We're very excited to share something we've been working on for a while: a major upgrade to Zotero's reading and annotation capabilities.

The latest Zotero 7 beta includes the next major version of the built-in PDF reader, which, in fact, is no longer just a PDF reader. The new reader adds support for reading and annotating EPUBs and webpage snapshots in addition to PDFs, and it introduces several new annotation types.

These features are available in the Zotero 7 beta today, and they'll be coming to the web library and iOS app later this year.

EPUBs

EPUB is the most popular ebook file format, and many people prefer EPUBs to PDFs for the improved reading experience they provide. Unlike PDFs, which have fixed layouts, most EPUBs allow text to reflow to the size of your window or device, and you can adjust the font and text size to your liking.

EPUBs now open in Zotero's built-in reader in the same way as PDFs, and you can annotate them and add those annotations to notes just as you've been able to for PDFs. (If you'd prefer to open EPUBs in an external reader, you can of course continue to do so, but you won't be able to use Zotero's annotation tools.)

Zotero can also automatically retrieve metadata for most EPUBs and create a parent item.

While Zotero won't yet download EPUBs automatically from websites, we'll soon make it possible to specify whether to save PDFs or EPUBs when both are available, and then we'll begin the process of updating site translators to support EPUBs. If there's a site that provides EPUBs that you'd like us to support, please let us know in a new thread.

Webpage Snapshots

Zotero already saves webpage snapshots on news articles and other pages, and those now open automatically in the new reader as well, enabling you to annotate webpages as easily as PDFs.

New Annotation Types

We've also added support for creating ink, underline, and text annotations. Ink annotations were already supported on iOS, and now it's possible to create them in the desktop app as well. (This obviously works best if you have a touchscreen PC or stylus.) Underline annotations work just like highlights, while text annotations allow you to add text directly to the page.

Underline annotations are available in all three file formats, while ink and text annotations are available in PDFs only.

Other Changes

In addition to the new file and annotations types, we've fixed various bugs in the reader. It's also now possible to resize highlight annotations after you create them (e.g., if you didn't get the selection right initially).

You might also notice a popup when you hover over intra-PDF links that shows part of the target page (e.g., to quickly see a reference). We're still working on that feature, and we'll announce when it's ready for testing.

Upgrading

The new reader is a work in progress, and there are some bugs even in PDF mode, so we're initially making the new beta available only for manual updates via Help → "Check for Updates…" or the beta download page. If you're already on the Zotero 7 beta, you'll remain on your current build for the next week or two while we fix some of the regressions. Once you've updated to the new reader version, you'll continue getting automatic updates.

If you do upgrade, be aware that once you create underline or text annotations, you won't be able to switch back to Zotero 6 with the same database (though you can delete your database and pull data down from your online library).[Update: Zotero 6.0.27 can open databases with underline and text annotations from Zotero 7, though those annotations won't appear in the PDF reader.] Creating underline or text annotations won't affect other synced devices with Zotero 6 or earlier Zotero 7 builds — you just might get a warning that some data couldn't be downloaded.

Reporting Problems

Please start new threads for any problems you encounter with the new reader, and as always, be sure to put "Zotero 7 Beta" in the thread title.

Thanks for helping to test Zotero!