Markdown links back to PDF when copying to Obsidian

dstillman Zotero Team
This discussion was created from comments split from: Available for beta testing: Note templates for PDF annotations.
  • jdlee
    This new template functionality seems like it might support including the link back to the pdf and location within when copying into another application, such as Obsidian. With Zotfile, once the note was copied into Obsidian, clicking on the reference information opened the PDF in Zotero to the position of the annotation. Zotfile did this by default.

    Reading the template documentation it is not clear to me how to adjust the template to include such a link. Is this possible, and if so is there an example of how the template can be adjusted?

  • dstillman Zotero Team
    @jdlee: Zotero already copies/exports Markdown with a link back to the PDF. See this comment and read down for an apparently necessary Obsidian configuration change, but this already works from Zotero.
  • warguelles
    @jdlee Drag-and drop your notes into an MD Obsidian note will keep ALL your backlinks to the Zotero library, as well as to the zotero PDF reader. It is very simple!

    Maybe the problem is in your Obsidian configuration: You will need to disable the Setup > Editor > "Auto convert HTML" option and everything will work perfectly...
  • jdlee
    @warguelles @dstillman
    Thank you very much. My confusion was that I was trying to copy or drag the individual annotation (i.e., a single highlighted element from an item's note) or the note from the sidebar. That doesn't work for me.

    When I drag the whole note (i.e, the set of annotations) from under the item in the center pane, rather than from the sidebar, it works as expected.

    I think that Zotefile kept the link when copying individual annotations from the notes sidebar, which might have contributed to my confusion and that of others.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    edited March 16, 2022
    My confusion was that I was trying to copy or drag the individual annotation (i.e., a single highlighted element from an item's note) or the note from the sidebar. That doesn't work for me.
    What sidebar are you referring to?

    Dragging annotations from the left-hand pane in the PDF reader absolutely works. Simply copying or dragging text from the note editor will just copy text.
  • jdlee
    By sidebar, I meant the right panel that has the "Info", "Notes", "Tags" "Related" headings, and specifically the note editor.

    As you mentioned, dragging items from the center works perfectly, and I will use that method.

    I can see where it would also be useful to retain links when copying and dragging from the note editor. This might also align with the intuition of many users.

    Thanks for your clarifications.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    edited March 16, 2022
    If you want to drag individual annotations as Markdown, you can do that from the left-hand pane of the PDF reader. Once you have your annotations in a note, you presumably want to copy the whole note, and that happens from the middle pane. Copying Markdown from the note editor itself doesn't really make sense, because you're not viewing Markdown there — you're viewing formatted text.
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