Right-clicking on text in PDF

Calorion
When I right-click on text in a PDF (on a Mac), I expect to be able to perform operations on it like Copy, Look Up, and Search with Google (or even better, Look Up in Google Scholar or Library Lookup!). However, all that appears is the highlighting toolbar. How can I access these other functions?
  • martynas_b Zotero Team
    If you right-click on a selected text, a context menu with a “Copy” option should appear. Does it not open for you?

    We can also consider adding similar features to the “Look Up” and “Search” options you mentioned.
  • Calorion
    I see the problem. I was right-clicking on text I had already highlighted. So my complaint is limited to that situation.

    Adding “Look Up” (in the system dictionary) and “Search with Google” (or the like) would be amazing.

    Even better if you also added “Find reference” or something similar.
  • ch3rryblossom
    Hi, just posting here to support this feature request. It would be really helpful to be able to highlight some text and then "Search with Google" through a right-click context menu.

    Thanks!
  • martynas_b Zotero Team
    Note that on macOS it's possible to select text and press Ctrl+Cmd+D while hovering over it to show the default lookup popup.
  • Calorion
    edited 8 days ago
    Okay, that (sort of) works, as does the equivalent trackpad gesture, but what’s selected doesn’t seem to matter, and it often picks up the wrong word, and can only look up words, not phrases. That’s better than nothing, but a far cry from using the native contextual menu, where I have Services set up (like Look Up in Google Earth), and a Google search is a click away.
  • poettli
    Works for me (Zotero 8.0.3, macOS 26.3)
  • Calorion
    Yeah, I got it to work, but in some PDFs it “misses”; it catches the word about an inch left of the one the insertion point is over.
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