Upgrade StorageIssue: Cannot find numbers in ctrl/cmd+F search (Numbers displayed correctly, but not their code)
Hello,
for some reason I cannot find numbers in some of my pdf-documents when I search for them. However, this only happens in Zotero. It is not the case for the same document in another viewer.
So for example when I look for the number "2025" nothing shows up, even when it is clearly visible in the text. Seems to be an underlying code problem in the pdf/text that for some reason shows up in Zotero.
And when I copy the number »2025« from a document in pdf, it shows as »"$"%« when I paste it.
Or when I copy »Article 1, 5, 28, 29« it shows as »Article !, %, "*, "&« when I paste it.
Essentially this means when I want to search for the year 2025 in the document I have to search for this cryptic code "$"%.
Why would this happen?
Is there a solution to this?
for some reason I cannot find numbers in some of my pdf-documents when I search for them. However, this only happens in Zotero. It is not the case for the same document in another viewer.
So for example when I look for the number "2025" nothing shows up, even when it is clearly visible in the text. Seems to be an underlying code problem in the pdf/text that for some reason shows up in Zotero.
And when I copy the number »2025« from a document in pdf, it shows as »"$"%« when I paste it.
Or when I copy »Article 1, 5, 28, 29« it shows as »Article !, %, "*, "&« when I paste it.
Essentially this means when I want to search for the year 2025 in the document I have to search for this cryptic code "$"%.
Why would this happen?
Is there a solution to this?
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u16660026/b33gn78h14bxq6hu8lwl.png
My solution was to OCR it.. So basically treat as if it would be just a scan. Still, that should not be necessary.
Any other way to solve this problem?
https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/487800/#Comment_487800
Do you see the same problem when you open the PDF file in Firefox?
In that case, you will need to repair the OCR in the PDF indeed.
But as the other discussion said, not in Preview (that pdf programm for Mac).
So basically I will continued what I did anyways: OCR.
Interestingly that text/code problem is only for parts of the book that i separated in extra-pdfs. That pdf of the whole book is readable in Zotero.
All the best, and thanks again!
1. About the the different PDF viewers and how OCR works: Yes you are right, I checked it. So i's a problem in Firefox, Chrome, Safari and funnily enough Apple's Preview as well! (just not as bad as in Zotero and only with some numbers, so that I did not note it in Preview before).
2. But my main question was something else. And now that it does not only happen in Zotero that specific question becomes a general question.
So step by step what my Scenario actually was.
--2.1.: I have big book with around 450 pages with many authors. In that step all numbers were perfectly readable in Zotero in the original book PDF.
--2.2.: But I don't just want the whole book as an entry in Zotero, but each articles/chapters of different author as their own entry in Zotero. That is why I split the PDFs; that means I'm cutting out their articles and make a new PDF with each of them for every author's article.
--2.3.: I add these new PDFs to Zotero. Suddenly there is this weird problem with recognising numbers (also on other PDF viewers as I now know):
So what happens is that when I copy eg the number »2025« from a document in pdf, it shows as »"$"%« when I paste it. Or when I copy »Article 1, 5, 28, 29« it shows as »Article !, %, "*, "&« when I paste it.
MAIN ISSUE:: Essentially this means when I want to search for the year »2025« in the document I have to search for this cryptic code »"$"%« .
Why does this happen? Only the Zotero OCR addon helps so far to make the numbers recognisable again. Is there something else we can do for it to not happen in the first place? Any other way to cut out the PDFs? Since in the original PDF there is no numbers problem like that.
Now that I know that it happens for most PDF viewers and it's not a specific Zotero problem, it's okay when Zotero team or community has no solution... But if you know about one, I'd be glad to hear about it.
Thanks and best regards!