Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

As a grad student, Zotero is a lifesaver! Thanks to the people developing it!

I use Google Drive for my pdf storage using some Zotfile acrobatics (awesome plugin btw) to manage my actual pdfs. I plan on switching to Zotero's cloud storage to support development as soon as I can.

That being said, I wish I had a nice workflow for reading papers on my iPad like I do on PC (Windows specifically, I know there are software for the Mac/iOS ecosystem but I don't have a Macbook so...): Open Zotero -> double-click on the paper -> Bam, the pdf opens in Acrobat where I can highlight and annotate, and save to pdf directly for future use.

The closest I got to this on iPad was to use the Zotfile plugin and use the Send to Tablet feature as described here [0], and opening and annotating the pdf on iPad.

Another interesting workflow seems to be using Obsidian to store the relationships between papers using annotations and highlights from them [1]. Another way to do this would be LiquidText but I paid 20+ USD separately for both the iPad and Windows Store versions, and it asks me to pay up again so I don't know what's up with them...

Still, I hope Zotero keeps being developed as it's the best, and perhaps the only open source research management software out there.

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7novaC_O_Y

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Fjhad-Z61o

EDIT: Added clarification of OS I am using.



Did you try this https://www.zotero.org/support/ios_beta? Works great for me.


Ah, I have heard of it! Unfortunately it seems the slots are filled so I am waiting for the final version.

Hope the iOS version fixes my itch!


I use Zoteros cloud service and the PaperShipapp. It works really good even though the app hasn’t been updated in a while.




Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: