Upgrade StorageRetain formatting when copying from Zotero PDF Reader
Is there an option that allows choosing whether to retain the formatting of copied text from Zotero PDF Reader?
The tested version was Zotero 6.0.18 on Fedora 36. There, it seems to have this option turned to FALSE – formatting is not retained.
Related posts:
* https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/98239/some-questions-about-the-pdf-viewer
EXAMPLE:
When I try to copy (any) text using CTRL+C and then CTLV+V to text editor, I get ugly one-liners like the following snippet, without any formatting retained.
1) snippet from Programming in Scala, incorrectly retained formatting
```
for file <- filesHere if file.isFile if file.getName.endsWith(".scala") do println(file)
```
while the text in PDF is formatted like this
2) correctly retained formatting
```
for file <- filesHere
if file.isFile
if file.getName.endsWith(".scala")
do println(file)
```
The tested version was Zotero 6.0.18 on Fedora 36. There, it seems to have this option turned to FALSE – formatting is not retained.
Related posts:
* https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/98239/some-questions-about-the-pdf-viewer
EXAMPLE:
When I try to copy (any) text using CTRL+C and then CTLV+V to text editor, I get ugly one-liners like the following snippet, without any formatting retained.
1) snippet from Programming in Scala, incorrectly retained formatting
```
for file <- filesHere if file.isFile if file.getName.endsWith(".scala") do println(file)
```
while the text in PDF is formatted like this
2) correctly retained formatting
```
for file <- filesHere
if file.isFile
if file.getName.endsWith(".scala")
do println(file)
```
It happens with all PDFs. Lets take a look at paper
* https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-3995.2009.00701.x
Version of PDF uploaded from my computer (should be identical to the one from previous link)
* https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nbAWhevhBEVzK287PEsa0NKDXuOi-DiU/view?usp=share_link
For example, first paragraph from "1. Introduction" using CTRL+C inside Zotero PDF Reader and then CTRL+V inside the text editor produces
1) incorrectly retained formatting
```
Two-dimensional cutting and packing problems (C&P) are highly relevant in production and logistics. 2D cutting problems are found in customizing material in the glass, steel, wood and paper industries. 2D packing problems arise, for example, where goods have to be packed on pallets in horizontal layers. And the space-saving arrangement of adverts on the pages of newspapers, or the effective positioning of components on chips when designing integrated circuits, lead to 2D packing problems.
```
2) However, it should contain line breaks. When opening the same PDF with Okular and using the CTRL+C, it correctly retains like breaks
```
Two-dimensional cutting and packing problems (C&P) are highly relevant in production and
logistics. 2D cutting problems are found in customizing material in the glass, steel, wood and
paper industries. 2D packing problems arise, for example, where goods have to be packed on
pallets in horizontal layers. And the space-saving arrangement of adverts on the pages of
newspapers, or the effective positioning of components on chips when designing integrated
circuits, lead to 2D packing problems.
```
Thanks for your reply. That was what I was asking – is there an option inside Zotero PDF Reader to change this behavior? Now I see that there is not.
So it will remain a huge pain for everybody who wants to copy anything using Zotero PDF Reader with retained formatting, say a snippet of code. Workaround is to open another PDF reader which can do that.
* https://people.cs.ksu.edu/~schmidt/705a/Scala/Programming-in-Scala.pdf
... if it ever comes to implementing detecting snippets of code and retaining formatting inside Zotero PDF Reader or another feature that will make copying code snippets easier.