"attach snapshot as pdf" button

SiGi
handling of web pages is not always easy, because of the many single files and file types (gif, jpeg, html, css,js) which are needed to represent the original web site. Zotero handles this normally without any problems.

But for me often it would be better, to have an single pdf-version of the website instead the original html. Especially when I want to distribute my archived web sites to other (non zotero) people.

My feature request: It is possible to add a button, that allows to attach a "snapshot as a pdf".
  • noksagt
    This has been requested before (as have various web archive formats). I couldn't find the past threads easily. The summary, though, is: PDF, in particular, is not likely at least until Firefox has a native method to save/convert to PDF.
  • SiGi
    Thanks noksagt for your reply,
    until there exists a native method on has to use the firefox button "print to pdf" to get a pdf snapshot of the web page and then attach this pdf to the item. Not realy nice, but possible.
  • adamsmith
    I believe there is a firefox add-on that directly converts to and opens as pdf - I wasn't excited about the result so I uninstalled it and forgot the name, but I'm sure you can track it down easily.
  • Indi
    edited May 4, 2010
    Currently I hit Print, then PDF, then Save as PDF, then select my desktop & hit Save, drag the resulting file to Zotero, then delete the original from the desktop. During the "Save as PDF" stage I glance wistfully at all the shortcuts below, such as Save to Bookends, Save to Web Receipts Folder, etc.

    If Zotero had an Inbox or watched folder, I could create a shortcut to that and knock a couple of steps off the process. So close...
  • Bionatsci
    If you are happy with the PDF saving the webpage appears on screen you could try the PDFmyURL bookmarklet. The PDF produced should just appear in your browser (assuming you use a PDF plugin) so you can use "create new item from current page" etc.

    I used to do this but I now go the long way round since I typically want to strip out ads and extraneous material using something like the printliminator bookmark before saving as pdf.
  • Indi
    edited May 4, 2010
    @Bionatsci: Thanks for that suggestion. I didn't like that particular bookmarklet but it gave me an idea that has helped. Here it is, for anyone looking for a similar solution:

    1) Create a "Zotero Inbox" folder in a convenient spot in Documents.
    2) Create a symlink to this folder, and put it in ~/Library/PDF Services. This will allow the Zotero Inbox folder to show up in the Print dialog > PDF menu. (I use the gadget "Symbolic Linker" -- http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Utilities/Symbolic-Linker.shtml. A regular alias might work too, but I'm not sure.)

    3) Create a folder action in Automater to open any added file in Firefox. It's a simple 1-step workflow.

    4) Attach the folder action to Zotero Inbox folder.

    Note: at first when I tried the action, Firefox started opening infinite numbers of blank windows. So don't try the action until you do this:

    5) Install a Firefox add-on that allows it to open PDFs. I used one that's called "PDF", from http://code.google.com/p/firefox-mac-pdf/.

    This seems to be working so far. Now when I find a page I want to store in Zotero as a pdf, I hit Print > PDF > Save to Zotero Inbox, and the new file opens in Firefox. In Zotero, click "Create New Item from Current Page" to save the PDF into Zotero. The process isn't a lot shorter, but it eliminates having to choose a save location, finding the file on the desktop, and deleting the original.

    Now, if only there were a way to make that whole thing a single script within Zotero...
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