Upgrade StorageText Annotation and Selection Issues on iPad
Hi developers, thanks for making this great application working on both mac and iPad. I'm mainly using Zotero as PDF reader on mac and iPad. The usage is heavy on highlights and text annotations on PDF, so I came across some issues with them.
I’m using iPadOS 26.0 with Zotero 1.0.54, most of the behaviors below are same in the older version of iPadOS and Zotero.
1. selection and finger release within words
When hold finger on one word, the word is selected as expected, then move the finger to the right then more words are selected. For example in the line: "This is a sentence.", if I hold my finger on "This", then swipe right to the "sentence", then all the words are selected, but at this time my finger is in the middle of the word "sentence", not the end of it, the whole selection is expected and working. But when I release the finger and want to hit the highlight popup item, the selection changes from the end of the word to the middle of the word, which is exactly the finger position, so the selection becomes "This is a sent".
This behavior cause many issues when I select sentence, and I have to carefully release my finger up at the end of the word, not in the middle of it, which is annoying.
2. text annotation size slider
The "Add Text" button on macos Zotero can change font size from 10 to 192, while on iPad it's 1 to 300, the range is too wide for such a small slider.
I have to carefully move my finger to set a proper size.
The size option in iPad is 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13 ... 300, no "10" as on the macos.
I always make font size to 10 in macos, but can only do it in 9 on iPad.
Could you please add a settings for "Add Text" font size?
Because for each restart of the app and PDF file, I have to manully change the "Add Text" font size to 10, which is annoying too.
3. text annotation left and right move on physical keyboard
On iPad with physical keyboard, when hit "left arrow" and "right arrow", the page turns, even when cursor is showing in the "Add Text" boxes, which means the "left and right arrow" can't move cursors in the box.
Also the "Delete" and "Backspace" on the iPad with physical keyboard can't remove a Text Annotation and Highlights as in the macos.
4. preview in the iPad Expose screen
When reading a PDF on iPad, swipe up to the home screen, then swipe up and hold go to the Expose screen, the screenshot of the Zetero shows the Library page, not the opened PDF. This is the behavior of the latest version of Zetero on iPadOS 26.
In the earlier version of Zetero on old iPadOS, no need to go to home screen, directly from the Zetero app and swipe up go to the Expose, the screen preview of the Zetero is always the Library page.
5. redirect link will hang the iPad app
In a PDF with 600 pages, when hit a reference link, the page goes to the page, then when hit the "< Back" button in the lower left corner, Zotero hangs. I have to hard kill it.
Since iPad uses M1 chip, it's should not be the hardware performance bottleneck I think.
Any new updates on these issues are highly appreciated!!!
Thanks!
I’m using iPadOS 26.0 with Zotero 1.0.54, most of the behaviors below are same in the older version of iPadOS and Zotero.
1. selection and finger release within words
When hold finger on one word, the word is selected as expected, then move the finger to the right then more words are selected. For example in the line: "This is a sentence.", if I hold my finger on "This", then swipe right to the "sentence", then all the words are selected, but at this time my finger is in the middle of the word "sentence", not the end of it, the whole selection is expected and working. But when I release the finger and want to hit the highlight popup item, the selection changes from the end of the word to the middle of the word, which is exactly the finger position, so the selection becomes "This is a sent".
This behavior cause many issues when I select sentence, and I have to carefully release my finger up at the end of the word, not in the middle of it, which is annoying.
2. text annotation size slider
The "Add Text" button on macos Zotero can change font size from 10 to 192, while on iPad it's 1 to 300, the range is too wide for such a small slider.
I have to carefully move my finger to set a proper size.
The size option in iPad is 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13 ... 300, no "10" as on the macos.
I always make font size to 10 in macos, but can only do it in 9 on iPad.
Could you please add a settings for "Add Text" font size?
Because for each restart of the app and PDF file, I have to manully change the "Add Text" font size to 10, which is annoying too.
3. text annotation left and right move on physical keyboard
On iPad with physical keyboard, when hit "left arrow" and "right arrow", the page turns, even when cursor is showing in the "Add Text" boxes, which means the "left and right arrow" can't move cursors in the box.
Also the "Delete" and "Backspace" on the iPad with physical keyboard can't remove a Text Annotation and Highlights as in the macos.
4. preview in the iPad Expose screen
When reading a PDF on iPad, swipe up to the home screen, then swipe up and hold go to the Expose screen, the screenshot of the Zetero shows the Library page, not the opened PDF. This is the behavior of the latest version of Zetero on iPadOS 26.
In the earlier version of Zetero on old iPadOS, no need to go to home screen, directly from the Zetero app and swipe up go to the Expose, the screen preview of the Zetero is always the Library page.
5. redirect link will hang the iPad app
In a PDF with 600 pages, when hit a reference link, the page goes to the page, then when hit the "< Back" button in the lower left corner, Zotero hangs. I have to hard kill it.
Since iPad uses M1 chip, it's should not be the hardware performance bottleneck I think.
Any new updates on these issues are highly appreciated!!!
Thanks!
Regarding (1), this is currently the default system behaviour when selecting text,you can see the same results if you select text in a PDF in the Preview app. However, we do look into customizing this behavior, if possible.
Regarding (2), while there is room for UI improvement when selecting text sizes, and we do plan to tackle this, there is alredy such a default setting. It should be saved between opening different PDF items, as well as app launches. Is that not your case?
Regarding (5), can you please share this document with us by mail to support@zotero.org and mention this thread?
Regarding (3) & (4), we will look into those.
Regarding (1), I can confirm this is the default behavior of the Preview app. Thanks.
Regarding (2), that is exactly my case.
Regarding (4), I recorded a video for this scenario: https://youtube.com/shorts/IntgbFbUQJ4
I reboot the iPad, the storage is only half full, about 64/128GB.
Regarding (5), I have sent the PDF to the support email. Here is how to reproduce the issue: Open the PDF to page 215, click the link "Chapter 9" in the middle, Zotero hangs for 2 seconds, then jump to page 321, then click the "< Back" in the left bottom, Zotero hangs indefinitely.
https://www.zotero.org/support/beta_builds#zotero_for_ios_beta
For (4) it seems from your video that the title of item remains correct, and only the screenshot changes, while going back to the app shows the item screen as expected. The system caches those screenshots and shows them. Indeed some times it may show an older screenshot, I've witnessed that myself, for other apps as well, but not so consistently as you mention. In any case it is a system isssue, that we cannot affect. Could be related to how many apps you have open and how iOS selects to clear up its screenshot cache.
For (2), can you please record and share a video, where you select a font size value, and then it is restored to a previous value when opening an item or launch the app anew?
For (5), I tried the latest iOS beta (2.0.0-397), it's very smooth. Problem solved. And I quit the TestFlight then wait for the official release.
For (2), it's the Zetero 7.0.26 on macOS 26.0.1. I record a video for this: https://youtu.be/lwvLPjV-y3M
iOS Zotero doesn't have this issue.