Annotations will be viewable in the items list in a future version and be searchable directly, and yes, that will likely be the best option here. For now, you can search for annotation comments and tags, but the parent attachments are what will show up as matches.

Annotation tags aren't applied to notes created from annotations, though we could consider that. Creating an individual note for each annotation doesn't make sense, though — that would just be duplicating data for no reason. Direct matching of annotations will be the solution there.

@dstillman It might be not reasonable for most users to create an individual note per annotation but that is exactly how I use them. In future implementations, hope you consider people like me (though I don't believe there's many of us).

But what do you actually want to do with those individual notes? As I say, individual annotations will be shown as separate items in the items list in a future version. So what does that not accomplish that duplicating those as separate notes would?

@dstillman @machadorobert @ulahcherubim

This is my exact use case in Zotero. When I first started, I created a new note for each annotation. However, I later discovered the "create note from annotation" feature and thought this would be a great time saver. However, while this feature saves time, it removes the value I originally had from having an individual note for each annotation.

Here's my workflow use case: As I read papers, I highlight, annotate, and tag relevant statements for later use. When I'm ready to write my paper, I use the tags feature to quickly identify my tagged references across all read papers (I wish the tags feature supported more than 9 assigned colors/numbers). I also use the tag feature to keep track of which statements were incorporated into my own paper.

@dstillman Glad to hear that annotations will be added to the item list. Will the assigned tagging color/number feature also work when viewing/annotating a document?

@dstillman Yes (sorry for the delayed response), let me know if this needs to be a separate topic.

When "tagging" items within the "times list", users are able to assign a number as hot key (or shortcut) to tags. While annotating a document users are able to add tags to their annotation but in a more manual fashion which is more labor extensive, and not visually associated with items tagged via the items list. Unlike "tagging" within the items list, while tagging within a PDF view, (1) users are not able to tag annotations using the assigned numeric hot key shortcuts, (2) tagging applied to the annotation does not convey any color scheme or association to the tagging applied to items within the items list.

I would also like to say I think the ability to assign hot keys (and colors) to items is a great feature and should be expanded to more than 9.

“Annotations will be viewable in the items list” will be a great feature, +1 from me.

But: I usually do a lot of annotations, for at least two different reasons:

1.) I highlight key sentences that I can skim later to more quickly recall the argument in the text. Here I am interested in the highlighted text. In the item list, they would tend to get in the way.

2) I comment on passages with regard to my thoughts on the passage. Here I am interested in my comments, and these are the ones I would like to see in the item list.

So I would like to be able to somehow control what appears in the item list. For example, via colors or tags.