Is anyone aware of an app that will allow you to retrieve the position of the highlighted piece of text from a PDF ?
If i can generate a link that will open a pdf viewer and take me to the exact position of that highlight , that would be amazing .
I am in need of such a feature to complete my digital Zettelkasten setup .
How do you generally keep your bibliography box and slip box connected ? How do you keep you bib slip connected to the refernce ?
Interesting challenge. I imagine there is some tool to do it, but Iâm not directly familiar with an exact match. That said, I use PDF-XChange Editor (most features free, but a Pro version has even more). Itâs Windows-only, unfortunately. But it has a variety of features that might partially accomplish your goal, including Bookmarks in PDFs, Comments with Highlight, Underline, etc. (for a specific piece of text), etc. The Comments in particular can be exported and do include location info in the file. It appears to be in a standard Adobe (originators of the PDF format) file type and syntax, .fdf or .xfdf. Hereâs a sample of whatâs in the export, for what itâs worth:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xfdf xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/xfdf/" xml:space="preserve"
><f href="letter_birmingham_jail.pdf"
/><ids original="FC5DCDA4E0FBC17AFB7BA74B82D79165" modified="FC5DCDA4E0FBC17AFB7BA74B82D79165"
/><annots
><link Highlight="Invert" coords="114.96,410.16192,519.91704,410.16192,519.91704,419.99208,114.96,419.99208,72,400.08192,138.12,400.08192,138.12,409.91208,72,409.91208" page="0" date="D:20201122112716-08'00'" name="d6da296a-1657-4c20-8439778466f201ff" rect="72,400.08192,519.91704,419.99208" color="#000000" width="0"
/><link Highlight="Invert" coords="72,360.24192,503.86272,360.24192,503.86272,370.07208,72,370.07208,72,350.16192,131.10864,350.16192,131.10864,359.99208,72,359.99208" page="0" date="D:20201122112733-08'00'" name="f2b4a918-037e-4add-8677dd6cca5b8a9c" rect="72,350.16192,503.86272,370.07208" color="#000000" width="0"
/><highlight coords="72,667.91208,176.7,667.91208,72,658.08192,176.7,658.08192" title="Oshyan" creationdate="D:20201122113213-08'00'" subject="Highlight" page="0" date="D:20201122113223-08'00'" flags="print" name="b731ef27-9983-4267-8ea34b5d797d40c3" rect="70.048937,658.08191,178.651061,667.91211" color="#FFFF00"
><popup open="no" page="0" date="D:20201122113224-08'00'" flags="invisible,nozoom,norotate" name="d7ceec0d-6855-406a-9a6597c2809f4084" rect="389.5,542.5,539.5,622.5"
/></highlight
><text icon="Check" inreplyto="b731ef27-9983-4267-8ea34b5d797d40c3" title="Oshyan" creationdate="D:20201122113223-08'00'" subject="Sticky Note" page="0" date="D:20201122113223-08'00'" flags="print,nozoom,norotate" name="f939f71d-f62a-4ade-bb68ab68de77b62f" rect="0,-18,20,0" color="#FFFF00"
><popup open="yes" page="0" date="D:20201122113223-08'00'" flags="invisible,nozoom,norotate" name="71627f7b-0ed6-4a6f-92a89e9807ff0b48" rect="0,0,0,0"
/></text
><underline coords="72,519.59208,122.70864,519.59208,72,509.76192,122.70864,509.76192" title="Oshyan" creationdate="D:20201122113251-08'00'" subject="Underline" page="0" date="D:20201122113251-08'00'" flags="print" name="8e1d9b3e-873f-47d3-80e2b064126d6df1" rect="72,510.657807,122.708642,511.657807" color="#00FF00"
/></annots
></xfdf
>
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So given that the PDF format has bookmarks/links/etc. functions as part of the spec, I guess a PDF editor that supports that may be your best chance of such a feature. It looks like some of the better Mac PDF apps are:
And this open-source one that specifically says itâs for reading and annotating scientific papers:
https://skim-app.sourceforge.io/
I know that doesnât definitively answer your question, but hopefully it helps you get a step closer. Let us know if you do ultimately find a great tool for this!
Maybe the premium version of Diigo.
Thanks for the effort ! This is a good technique that I had never explored .
Unfortunately , I want to be as minimalistic as possible with respect to the apps I use in my workflow and so wouldnât want another app to read the comments/ highlights I make in the PDFs.
In my ideal situation , I should be able to generate a link (local) for my highlight/comment in the pdf and I should be able to paste it in the note-taking app of my choice , as bibliography metadata for my slip. This would enable me to refer to the source material and by literature notes (comments) without having to maintain a separate slip box for both .
I have a feeling that the app named hook , might be able to help me with that . But havenât gone down that rabbit hole yet . Will update once I try .
UPDATE : I just checked https://hookproductivity.com/help/general/features/ and I think itâs almost there . It links almost every file in the MacOs with each other , has backlinks as well .
Itâs like Roam OS.
Unfortunately , doesnât have deep linking to the text level of PDFs. But there is an update thatâs coming this year which promises to do just that . Will have an eye out for that .
Meanwhile , I found this other app that does the text level linking : https://apps.apple.com/in/app/pdfoo/id540272061?mt=12
Will update after I have tried it .
Unfortunately , thereâs no mention of being able to export the annotated sections of PDFs as links anywhere in the website . Am I missing something ?
Also , this came as a surprise to me . Is this a web annotation tool like hypothesis.is and world brainâs memex ? I have never heard of this and the website says they have more than 9 M + users . That is a LOT .
I was trying with Diigo here. You should be able to highlight text inside the Pdfs and create a share link for each highlight, but looks like isnât working. Iâll ask from support why isnât working.