Group PDF annotation - some bugs and suggestions

burgarth
edited February 5, 2022
Great that the internal editor is now enabled for groups.

1) I get an error - D198747464 and below ouput- but the basic functions seem to work nonetheless.

2) my own annotations have my username shown, but only after closing and re-opening the file, sometimes a couple of times

3) other users annotations cannot be edited. Perhaps there could be an option to enable and disable that? Or to comment on others comments, and resolve, similar to a document review function?

4) Is there a way to move files between personal and group library and retain annotations?

5) It would be nice if personal files could also be "symbolic links" to files in the group, that is, no need to keep two different versions with different annotations.

6) When importing annotations to the PDF, and then reimporting back to database, there seem to be bugs: the original annotation creator is lost, and some extracted text is not retained.





======
Red box: "Error saveAnnotation", then details:

PDF.js v2.8.152 (build: 9a187f59c)
Message: Cannot edit item in library ****
Stack: Error: Cannot edit item in library ****
Zotero.DataObject.prototype._initSave<@chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/data/dataObject.js:992:13
tryCatcher@resource://zotero/loader.jsm -> resource://zotero/bluebird/util.js:16:16
module.exports/PromiseSpawn.prototype._promiseFulfilled@resource://zotero/loader.jsm -> resource://zotero/bluebird/generators.js:97:18
module.exports/Promise.coroutine/<@resource://zotero/loader.jsm -> resource://zotero/bluebird/generators.js:201:9
From previous event:
captureStackTrace@resource://zotero/loader.jsm -> resource://zotero/bluebird/debuggability.js:915:23
CapturedTrace@resource://zotero/loader.jsm -> resource://zotero/bluebird/debuggability.js:807:5
longStackTracesCaptureStackTrace@resource://zotero/loader.jsm -> resource://zotero/bluebird/debuggability.js:482:19
module.exports/Promise.prototype._then@resource://zotero/loader.jsm -> resource://zotero/bluebird/promise.js:261:9
module.exports/Promise.prototype._passThrough@resource://zotero/loader.jsm -> resource://zotero/bluebird/finally.js:94:12
module.exports/Promise.prototype.finally@resource://zotero/loader.jsm -> resource://zotero/bluebird/finally.js:103:12
PromiseSpawn@resource://zotero/loader.jsm -> resource://zotero/bluebird/generators.js:36:25
module.exports/Promise.coroutine/<@resource://zotero/loader.jsm -> resource://zotero/bluebird/generators.js:197:21
Zotero.DataObject.prototype.saveTx@chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/data/dataObject.js:978:10
Zotero.Annotations</this.saveFromJSON@chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/annotations.js:220:11
ReaderInstance/<@chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/reader.js:626:47
  • dstillman
    Thanks for these.
    1) I get an error - D198747464 and below ouput- but the basic functions seem to work nonetheless.
    Did you try to edit an annotation that you didn't create? That shouldn't be allowed, but it also shouldn't trigger an error.
    2) my own annotations have my username shown, but only after closing and re-opening the file, sometimes a couple of times
    We're aware of that. (It's closing and reopening after a sync has happened.)
    3) other users annotations cannot be edited. Perhaps there could be an option to enable and disable that? Or to comment on others comments, and resolve, similar to a document review function?
    Commenting is planned. Not sure about "resolving" — if that's something you'd find useful here, can you say more about how you'd use it?
    4) Is there a way to move files between personal and group library and retain annotations?
    I haven't tested that, but that's likely an oversight in the current build. We'll add that for the next version.
    5) It would be nice if personal files could also be "symbolic links" to files in the group, that is, no need to keep two different versions with different annotations.
    That's basically the same problem that's always existed with regular child notes, and the concern has always been making it possible to keep items in sync between libraries without making it too easy to accidentally expose private notes. It's something we hope to address eventually, but nothing imminent.
    6) When importing annotations to the PDF, and then reimporting back to database, there seem to be bugs: the original annotation creator is lost, and some extracted text is not retained.
    Yes, transferring annotations to/from the PDF doesn't work well in the context of group libraries, and we're going to disable it there. It's too damaging to group data to allow, and storing annotations in the database allows for simultaneous, conflict-free syncing of annotations with proper attribution to group members. (You'll still be able to export a PDF with embedded annotations if you really want to.)
  • martynas_b
    1) I get an error - D198747464 and below ouput- but the basic functions seem to work nonetheless.
    The issue might be caused by https://github.com/zotero/zotero/issues/2333
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