How to disable Zotero internal default pdf reader?

MGhaderi
Hi, after updating my Zotero to version 6.0.2 (on Mac), it starts opening my pdf files in the internal Zotero pdf reader. How can I disable this and set my external Pdf reader as default? I use a professional pdf editor for my tasks.

It is quite annoying that the default pdf viewer has been changed with the update without asking my preferences! Such a waste of time!
  • dstillman
    edited March 23, 2022
    Zotero preferences → General → "Open PDFs using", same as before
  • luke-a-rogers
    This was super frustrating for me too. The fact that the solution was the same as before didn't help, because I'd never needed to set an option to open a pdf in an external viewer before.

    Please add this solution to the description of the new feature at https://www.zotero.org/support/pdf_reader_preview.

    Currently, it just says we'll always be able to use an external viewer, but it doesn't say how. It would *really* help to say how (last bullet on the page):

    "It will always remain possible to set Zotero to open PDFs in an external reader if you prefer one to the internal reader. Externally created highlights and notes show up in the PDF reader and can be added to Zotero notes as easily as annotations you create in Zotero."

  • luke-a-rogers
    Thanks for such a quick update on that link! Much appreciated.
  • jcrisco
    It would be worthwhile (for me) to have both options. Click on PDF icon and it opens in Zotero, or right-click (e.g.) and you have the option to open in your external PDF reader.
  • enozkan
    @jcrisco If you want to have Zotero's PDF reader as default, but be able to use an external reader once in a while, you can always right-click on the PDF, choose "Show File", and open that file with your File Manager (e.g., Finder on Mac OS) with whatever program on your computer. It's just one more click than what you described.
  • jkarnes
    another warning to users: highlighting in the zotero reader did not transfer to preview or show up in printed files. "giving the reader a try" can waste a lot of time!
  • enozkan
    No, that's the exact expected behavior. The annotations are not written to the PDF file, unless you wanted them exported. Read why here:

    https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/annotations_in_database

    Zotero 6 has been in beta in for many months, tested probably by thousands of users now. Speaking from personal experience, it has changed the way I read and study literature, and did not break in any significant way since its first beta release for me.
  • Dellu
    edited March 31, 2022
    >dstillman
    >8 days ago edited 8 days ago
    >Zotero preferences → General → "Open PDFs using", same as before

    Thank you for keeping that option available to us.
  • ahmetkurnaz
    while there are many places to improve the software writing a document reader is a bad decision! I wonder do you collect data with this new update? I didn't give my permission explicitly for such activity!!!
  • adamsmith
    No https://www.zotero.org/support/privacy
    and it's OK for you to not like the new reader. Other people do
  • Dellu
    >a document reader is a bad decision!
    NO;
    If you read this forum, a pdf reader was one of the most requested features. It was also one of the most common criticism of the app.
    I think including a reader is one of the most important achievements.

    What is rather controversial is why they decide the annotations and notes internal to the database. I would personally prefer if the annotations were embedded into the pdf itself. But, yah, that is what they want/like.
  • Dellu
    Thus far they have kept the option to open it in an external application, I am not going to be unhappy about the internal reader. People who like it will use it. For me, I open it in the default reader because I like embedding my notes into the pdf.
  • frankefficacy
    Several comments here say that there is an option to use an external PDF reader in Preferences :: General, but I can't find it at all. I'm using version 6/0.4 on Windows.

    I have put an image of the General Preferences dialog that I see at at https://ibb.co/LnfGjv0

    If anyone can help with finding this setting, I would very much appreciate it.
    Thanks!
  • dstillman
    edited April 7, 2022
    @frankefficacy: That's the Advanced pane of the preferences. This is just in the General pane — the very first pane of the preferences.
  • frankefficacy
    I just realized that snapshot was of the advanced settings. I found the setting in the end. Sorry about that.
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