Zotero PDF Reader

From within Zotero, you are able to read and annotate your full text PDFs. Select a reference, click the grey triangel to the left of the title and double-click the attached PDF. The PDF will now open in a new tab in Zotero: the PDF Reader.

In the PDF Reader, you can 1) highlight text, 2) add notes and 3) add colored frames to objects of interest:

Zotero PDF Reader menu

Open a PDF in the PDF Reader. Try highlighting a few sections, adding a couple of notes and framing interesting images or graphs.

Summarize your annotations

To see a summary of your highlights and annotations, click the toggle sidebar button to the upper left:

Toggle sidebar pdf reader menu zotero

Now you will see a list of all the most interesting parts from the PDF to the left of the PDF itself.

View and edit notes

To see and edit your notes about the reference, click on the note button on the upper right:

Note button PDF reader zotero

Here you will not only see your notes about this specific reference, but all notes in your library. Click on a note in the list to edit it, or click on the plus-sign to add a new note:

Add note to item PDF reader Zotero

You can even add a note that consists of your collected annotations from this specific PDF ("Add Item Note from Annotations"). This way you can quickly access the highlights from the publication directly from My Library.