Zotero 7 Beta: jumping to the annotation through link, no longer blink?

gs23
It used to be the case for Zotero 6 when clicking the link to zotero annotation(e.g. zotero://open-pdf/library/items/6S5RVSGT?page=2&annotation=2LCU6UQB), the annotation of interest will blink once with different color so that it is easy for you to find out where it is even there is a lot of other annotation on the page.

Seems like it is no longer the case in Zotero 7?
  • martynas_b
    It currently displays just a color for a few seconds. Isn't that enough?
  • nhan000
    It's part of the issue I reported here https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/107371/zotero-7-clicking-links-of-epub-and-html-annotation-doesnt-bring-me-to-the-highlight-location and it's still not fixed yet in the latest beta (7.0.0-beta.48+0cab24fb8).
  • martynas_b
    @nhan000 What exactly is the issue? I can't reproduce it.
  • nhan000
    @martynas_b To reproduce:
    Windows 11, 7.0.0-beta.51+7c5600913 (64-bit)

    For PDF:
    - Open a PDF file in Zotero and make a few highlights.
    - Drag and drop these highlights into Word or a markdown app.
    - Click the (pdf) link from this app.
    - See that it takes you to the page of the highlight but there's no color change to signify the location of the highlight in that page.

    For EPUB:
    - Open the EPUB file in Zotero and make a few highlights.
    - Drag and drop these highlights into Word or a markdown app.
    - Click the (pdf) link from this app.
    - See that it does absolutely nothing, not even opening the EPUB file in Zotero.

    Note that the feature of bringing to the highlight location still works fine if clicking “Show on Page” from the Notes in Zotero.

    Let me know if it's still not clear.
  • martynas_b
    PDF: Ok, there are regressions in Zotero 7 beta and we'll fix them soon.
    EPUB/Snapshot: Opening EPUB/snapshot file at specific position is not yet supported currently, and those generated links are invalid.
  • nhan000
    edited November 14, 2023
    Glad we cleared things up with the PDF issue.

    Is there a plan to support opening EPUB/snapshot file at specific position as with PDF? If yes, will the links generated now for opening EPUB/snapshot file at specific position work when the feature is supported in the future?
  • nhan000
    edited November 30, 2023
    In 7.0.0-beta.52+2f8e536f2 (64-bit), clicking the link from 3rd party app does bring to the location of the highlight (this is an improvement because previously it only bring user to the page that has the highlight), but it still doesn't have the color change.
  • martynas_b
    @nhan000 Do you expect the annotation to be selected or what exactly?
  • nhan000
    edited December 3, 2023
    Sorry it wasn't clear. I made a screen recording here. It should be much clearer what I meant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDs9U5JiPL4.

    At the end of the video (0:54), I also made a feature request for a slight enhancement to have the highlight location to always be at the top of the page when clicking links. Let me know if I should make a separate topic. Thank you!
  • mjthoraval
    Probably related to this:
    - Select some text at the bottom of a page in the Zotero PDF Viewer (do not create an annotation)
    - Drag and drop to an external software
    - Click on the "pdf" link in the external software
    --> That brings you to the top of the page instead of the location of the highlighted text. It also doesn't have the color change to identify the text that was cited, since it cannot even go there.

    If you do the same from the Show on Page link in a Zotero note, it brings you to the correct location and highlights the text in blue for a short duration. So it can remember the exact location of the text cited even though there is no annotation attached to it.

    Are the links in Zotero notes and in an external software fundamentally different to explain the difference? Is it possible to get the links in an external software to behave the same as the Show on Page link in a Zotero note?
  • nhan000
    Still not fixed in 7.0.0-beta.54+6b996d4f9 (64-bit). Please let me know if my YouTube video above didn't help clarify the problem. It's a minor feature but it's really helpful. It existed in Zotero 6 so I hope it would be carried over to Zotero 7 too. Thank you!

    Thanks mjthoraval for digging deeper into the issue.
  • martynas_b
    @nhan000 We'll fix the issue where the annotation isn't highlighted when navigating to it via a link.

    @mjthoraval In this case, it won't work as we aim to avoid encoding the annotation's position into the link.
  • mjthoraval
    Thank you for your reply.
    In this case, it won't work as we aim to avoid encoding the annotation's position into the link
    I am curious why it should work for links in Zotero notes but not for links in an external software.
    I would like to be able to get a link to a specific chapter or section of a PDF file from an external software. But I don't want to leave an annotation visible on the PDF file every time I do that.
    This already works nicely by a drag and drop of selected text to a Zotero note but not to an external software. So getting the link with the exact annotation's position in an external software would be very nice.

    [Additional discussion below]

    A simple test:
    1) Highlight some text in the Zotero PDF Viewer
    2) Drag and drop to a Zotero note and to an external software
    3) Delete the highlight
    -> The link still goes to the exact position from the Zotero note, but not from the external software, which only takes you to the page of the annotation.

    So, I guess that the annotation's position is stored in the link for a Zotero note, but not for an external software, probably because the format could change in the future.

    If that is correct, it should be possible to get the link with the annotation's position to use in an external software. But it will not be a function supported by Zotero, as it may break in the future. So it should be provided by a plugin like Actions & Tags. Even if this breaks in the future, the worst that can happen is simply to get back to the page of the annotation instead of the exact position, which is anyway what it is doing at the moment.
    Is that correct?

  • martynas_b
    The problem is that the link can become very long, especially for EPUB and snapshot annotations. Possibly even longer than the maximum allowed link length (~2048). Of course most of the time it would be short enough.
  • mjthoraval
    I see. Then this could be handled by using a shortened format for Zotero links in an external software, similar to the concept of Short URL?

    The alternatives would be:
    1) Add the ability to hide a specific annotation. But they would probably need to get a special status, so that they can be displayed or hidden at will separately from the other annotations (maybe a tag?).
    2) Make a special type of annotation for this kind of bookmarks. But all the different types of annotations may be useful for creating a bookmark that is not visible in the PDF file.
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