Q. How do I use the PDF reader in Zotero?

You can read PDFs attached to your citation directly in Zotero wherever you are working. Zotero offers a lot of methods for reading and navigating your PDFs.

You can also annotate, or take notes, in your PDF and save those notes in Zotero. You can:

• Highlight or underline text,
• Add comments with text or sticky notes,
• Highlight an area of the PDF (great for figures and tables), and
• Draw on the PDF.

You can also add tags to your annotations. Then, when you are done, you can use the desktop app to convert your annotations into a item note for that citation.

• Desktop App
• Web Library
• Mobile App

Desktop App

Opening and Navigating a PDF

• Double click a citation that has an attached PDF to open the PDF in the PDF reader.
• In the PDF reader, above the document, there is a top navigation bar will have ways to view and annotate the document. The rest of this list will go over the options in this bar from left to right.
  
• Click "Toggle Sidebar" to open up the left sidebar. There are three tools in the left sidebar.
  
  • "Show Thumbnails" (icon: four pages with top right corner down) displays all of the pages in the document as small thumbnails for quick browsing. Click a thumbnail to go to that page.
    
  • "Show Annotations" (icon: two sticky notes with the bottom left corner turned up) lists all the notes you made in the document and lets you search them. Click an annotation to go to it or click "Search Annotations" (icon: magnifying glass) to search your annotations. Scroll to "Annotating a PDF" to learn how to add notes.
    
  • "Show Outline" (icon: a bulleted list) will create an outline of headings in the document so you can quickly jump to parts of the document. Not all PDFs will have this feature, because those headings will need to have been tagged when the document was created.
    
• There are three options for zooming the PDF size.
  
  • Click "Zoom Out" (icon: magnifying glass with minus sign) to make the text smaller.
  • Click "Zoom In" (icon: magnifying glass with a plus sign) to make the text bigger.
  • Click "Reset Zoom" (icon: double-sided arrow pointing left and right in a box) to zoom the document so that it covers the whole width of the Zotero app, not including any side panels.
• There are tools for paging through the document.
  
  • Click "Back" (icon: arrow pointing left) to return to where you last were if you clicked an internal link in the document.
  • Click "Previous Page" (icon: arrow pointing up) to go to the page before.
  • Click "Next Page" (icon: arrow pointing right) to move on to the page after.
  • Click the "Page" box to jump to a specific page in the document. It will list the total number of pages to the right of it.
• The next seven icons cover the annotation options. They are covered under "Annotating a PDF."
• Click "Find in Document" (icon: magnifying glass) to search the PDF for specific words and browse to them.
  
• Click "Toggle Context Pane" to display the PDF's citation information, collections, tags, notes, etc.
  

Annotating a PDF

• There are multiple color options for your annotations. Select the "Pick a Color" menu at the end of the highlight options to change colors. You can use multiple colors per document.
  
• Highlight Text and Underline Text
  • Both of these features allow you to draw attention to specific text in your document.
  • There are two options for highlighting or underlining text:
    • Option 1: click the "Highlight Text" icon (the letter "A" in a box) or the "Underline Text" icon (the letter "A" that is underlined) and drag over the text you want to note.
      
      
    • Option 2: click and drag over the text you want to note. A new box will open. Select either Highlight Text (the letter "A" in a box) or "Underline Text" (the letter "A" that is underlined) and then a color to add your annotation.
      
  • If you click the highlighted/underlined text, a box will open up allowing you to add a comment to the highlight or add tags. If the left sidebar is open, this option will appear in the list of annotations.
    
  • You can also click "Open the annotation menu" (icon: three horizontal dots) in the box to add this annotation to an existing annotations item note, change the highlight/underline color, edit the page number if the automatic page numbering is not correct, change a highlight to underline or underline to highlight, and delete the annotation.
  • Note: older PDFs, especially converted photocopies, may not be able to use the highlight and underline features because the PDF reader cannot recognize the text. You can use "Select Area" instead.
• Add Note and Add Text
  • Both features allow you to add text comments to your document. The big difference is that the notes appear as a sticky note that you have to click to read, while the added text is directly added to the document. 
  • To create a note, click the "Add Note" icon (sticky note with the bottom left corner turned up) and then click where you want to add the note.
    
    • A box will pop up for you to add comments and tags.
      
  • To create text, click the "Add Text" icon (capital "T") and then click where you want to add the text.
    
    • A dashed box will pop up for you to add comments and tags.
      
    • You can adjust the size of the box by click and dragging the circles at the edges of the box, and you can reorient the box by clicking the circle on the dashed lined that comes off of the top of the box.
  • You can also click "Open the annotation menu" (icon: three horizontal dots) in the box to add this annotation to an existing annotations item note, change the text or note color, edit the page number if the automatic page numbering is not correct, and delete the annotation.
• Select Area
  • Use this feature to take notes on a given space in the PDF. This is good for images and figures.
  • Click the "Select Area" icon, which looks like a solid line square inside a dashed line square. Then, click and drag over the area you want to identify. A colored line will appear around the area.
    
  • Click the selected area to add comments and tags.
    
  • You can also click "Open the annotation menu" (icon: three horizontal dots) in the box to add this annotation to an existing annotations item note, change the color of the lines, edit the page number if the automatic page numbering is not correct, copy or save the image, and delete the annotation.
• Draw
  • Use this feature to free-hand draw in your document.
  • Click the "Draw" icon (a pencil next to a looping line).
    
    • You can then click the Pick a Color icon, which will now let you select the color and size of the drawing line. You can also select the eraser here.
      
    • Click and drag the mouse to draw.
      
• When you have finished annotating your document, you can add all of these annotations to an Item Note.
  • First, toggle open the context pane.
  • Click the "Notes" icon (a sticky note) in the right navigation.
    
  • This will change the context pane to a list of item notes. Click "Add" (Icon: plus sign).
    
  • In the box that opens, click "Add Item Note from Annotations."
    

Web Library

Opening and Navigating a PDF

• Double click a citation that has an attached PDF to open the PDF in the PDF reader. It will open in a new browser tab.
• In the PDF reader, above the document, there is a top navigation bar will have ways to view and annotate the document. The rest of this list will go over the options in this bar from left to right.
  
• Click "Toggle Sidebar" to open up the left sidebar. There are three tools in the left sidebar.
  
  • "Show Thumbnails" (icon: four pages with top right corner down) displays all of the pages in the document as small thumbnails for quick browsing. Click a thumbnail to go to that page.
    
  • "Show Annotations" (icon: two sticky notes with the bottom left corner turned up) lists all the notes you made in the document and lets you search them. Click an annotation to go to it or click "Search Annotations" (icon: magnifying glass) to search your annotations. Scroll to "Annotating a PDF" to learn how to add notes.
    
  • "Show Outline" (icon: a bulleted list) will create an outline of headings in the document so you can quickly jump to parts of the document. Not all PDFs will have this feature, because those headings will need to have been tagged when the document was created.
    
• There are three options for zooming the PDF size.
  
  • Click "Zoom Out" (icon: magnifying glass with minus sign) to make the text smaller.
  • Click "Zoom In" (icon: magnifying glass with a plus sign) to make the text bigger.
  • Click "Reset Zoom" (icon: double-sided arrow pointing left and right in a box) to zoom the document so that it covers the whole width of the Zotero app, not including any side panels.
• There are tools for paging through the document.
  
  • Click "Back" (icon: arrow pointing left) to return to where you last were if you clicked an internal link in the document.
  • Click "Previous Page" (icon: arrow pointing up) to go to the page before.
  • Click "Next Page" (icon: arrow pointing right) to move on to the page after.
  • Click the "Page" box to jump to a specific page in the document. It will list the total number of pages to the right of it.
• The next five icons cover the annotation options. They are covered under "Annotating a PDF."
• Click "Find in Document" (icon: magnifying glass) to search the PDF for specific words and browse to them.
  

Annotating a PDF

• There are multiple color options for your annotations. Select the "Pick a Color" menu at the end of the highlight options to change colors. You can use multiple colors per document.
  
• Highlight Text and Underline Text
  • Both of these features allow you to draw attention to specific text in your document.
  • There are two options for highlighting or underlining text:
    • Option 1: click the "Highlight Text" icon (the letter "A" in a box)  and drag over the text you want to note. This will create a highlight, which can be converted to an underline (see below).
      
    • Option 2: click and drag over the text you want to note. A new box will open. Select either Highlight Text (the letter "A" in a box) or "Underline Text" (the letter "A" that is underlined) and then a color to add your annotation.
      
  • If you click the highlighted/underlined text, a box will open up allowing you to add a comment to the highlight or add tags. If the left sidebar is open, this option will appear in the list of annotations.
    
  • You can also click "Open the annotation menu" (icon: three horizontal dots) in the box to add this annotation to an existing annotations item note, change the highlight/underline color, edit the page number if the automatic page numbering is not correct, change a highlight to underline or underline to highlight, and delete the annotation.
  • Note: older PDFs, especially converted photocopies, may not be able to use the highlight and underline features because the PDF reader cannot recognize the text. You can use "Select Area" instead.
• Add Note
  • This feature allows you to add text comments to your document.
  • To create a note, click the "Add Note" icon (sticky note with the bottom left corner turned up) and then click where you want to add the note.
    
  • A box will pop up for you to add comments and tags.
    
  • To create text, click the "Add Text" icon (capital "T") and then click where you want to add the text.
  • You can also click "Open the annotation menu" (icon: three horizontal dots) in the box to add this annotation to an existing annotations item note, change the text or note color, edit the page number if the automatic page numbering is not correct, and delete the annotation.
• Select Area
  • Use this feature to take notes on a given space in the PDF. This is good for images and figures.
  • Click the "Select Area" icon, which looks like a solid line square inside a dashed line square. Then, click and drag over the area you want to identify. A colored line will appear around the area.
    
  • Click the selected area to add comments and tags.
    
  • You can also click "Open the annotation menu" (icon: three horizontal dots) in the box to add this annotation to an existing annotations item note, change the color of the lines, edit the page number if the automatic page numbering is not correct, copy or save the image, and delete the annotation.
• Draw
  • Use this feature to free-hand draw in your document.
  • Click the "Draw" icon (a pencil next to a looping line).
    
    • You can then click the Pick a Color icon, which will now let you select the color and size of the drawing line. You can also select the eraser here.
      
    • Click and drag the mouse to draw.
      
• When you have finished annotating your document, you can add all of these annotations to an Item Note using the desktop app.

Mobile App

Opening and Navigating a PDF

• Double click a citation that has an attached PDF to open the PDF in the PDF reader.
  
• In the PDF reader, above the document, there is a top navigation bar will have ways to view and annotate the document. The rest of this list will go over the options in this bar from left to right.
  
• Click the icon of an arrow pointing left to close the PDF reader.
• Clock the next icon, which looks like a browser window with text in the left third, to open three tools for navigating the document.
  
  • The first option, "Thumbnails," shows small thumbnail images of each page. Click the thumbnail to go to that page.
    
  • The second option, "Annotations," shows all of your notes in the PDF. Click a note to jump to it. There is also a search bar to look through your notes.
    
  • The third option, "Outline," will create an outline of headings in the document so you can quickly jump to parts of the document. Not all PDFs will have this feature, because those headings will need to have been tagged when the document was created.
    
• The next icon looks like a large letter A with next lines around it. This will create a simple HTML text version of the PDF document. This may be easier to read, though you cannot add notes and there may sometimes be issues with the text conversion.
  
  
• The next icon, which looks like a pencil drawing in a circular motion, opens the annotation tools. These will be covered in more detail in "Annotating a PDF" below.
  
• The magnifying glass icon opens up a search bar for the whole document.
  
• The share icon (a box with an arrow pointing up), brings up options to copy the article in-text citation (Copy Citation) or reference list citation (Copy Bibliography) to be pasted elsewhere. You can also share the PDF elsewhere, either without (Export PDF) or with (Export Annotated PDF) your notes.
  
• Finally, the gear icon brings up settings for displaying and scrolling through the PDF.
  

Annotating a PDF

• The pencil drawing in a circular motion icon in the top navigation opens the annotation tools menu. The menu will be vertical on the left side.
  
• If you select the three lines icon at the bottom of the menu, you can move the annotation tools to the right side or to the top of the PDF.
   
• Your annotations can be done in different colors. Whenever you select an annotation tool that can have different colors, a circle icon will appear in the menu. Select the circle to pick a color. The color of the circle icon will now match the color you selected.
  
• Highlight Text and Underline Text
  • Both of these features allow you to draw attention to specific text in your document.
  • There are two options for highlighting or underlining text:
    • Option 1: click the "Highlight Text" icon (the letter "A" in a box) or the "Underline Text" icon (the letter "A" that is underlined), select a color in the circle icon, and drag over the text you want to note.
      
    • Option 2: click and drag over the text you want to note. A new box will open. Select either "Highlight" or "Underline" to add your annotation.
      
  • If you click the highlighted/underlined text, a box will open up allowing you to add a comment to the highlight, change the color, add tags, or delete the highlight. Click "Done" when you are finished.
    
  • You can also click the three horizontal dots icon in the box to correct any text in the annotation. This might happen of the PDF reader cannot recognize the text in the original PDF.
  • Note: older PDFs, especially converted photocopies, may not be able to use the highlight and underline features because the PDF reader cannot recognize the text. You can use "Select Area" instead.
• Add Note and Add Text
  • Both features allow you to add text comments to your document. The big difference is that the notes appear as a sticky note that you have to click to read, while the added text is directly added to the document. 
  • To create a note, click the "Add Note" icon (sticky note with the bottom left corner turned up), pick a color for the note with the color icon, and then click where you want to add the note.
    
    • A box will pop up for you to add comments, change the color, add tags, or delete the note.
      
    • Click the three dots icon to edit the page number if needed.
  • To create text, click the "Add Text" icon (capital "T") and then click where you want to add the text and then type your comment.
    
    • Tap the text once to make a series of dots appear around the text. You can now click and drag the text to a new location. Click the dots that are in a rectangle around the text to expand the text's area horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Click the dot hanging below the box to rotate the text.
      
    • Tap the text twice to edit the text, change the font size, change the color, add tags, or delete the text.
      
• Select Area
  • Use this feature to take notes on a given space in the PDF. This is good for images and figures.
  • Click the "Select Area" icon, which looks like a solid line square inside a dashed line square. Then, click and drag over the area you want to identify.
    
  • A colored border will appear around the area when you are done.
    
  • Tap the border of the selected area to open a box that lets you add comments, change the color of the border, add tags, and delete the annotation. and tags.
    
  • You can also click the share icon (a square with an arrow pointing up) to share the areas as an image or click three horizontal dots icon in the box to edit the page number or delete the annotation.
• Draw
  • Use this feature to free-hand draw in your document.
  • Click the "Draw" icon (a pencil next to a looping line), pick a color in the color icon, and then drag your finger around the screen to draw. Click the eraser icon right below the draw icon to remove a part of a drawing.
    
  • Tap a drawing once to bring up a series of dots in a box around the drawing. You can now drag the drawing around or use the dots to resize the image horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
    
  • Tap the drawing twice to open up a box that lets you change the drawing's color, change the width of the lines, add tags, or delete the drawing.
  • Click the three horizontal dots in the box to change the page number or delete the drawing.
    
• When you have finished annotating your document, you can add all of these annotations to an Item Note using the desktop app.