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#1 2007-05-23 12:12:40
- secobey
- New member
- Registered: 2007-05-23
- Posts: 7
Better integration with Skim (no need for highlighting)
I read that you're planning to develop the ability to highlight directly in pdfs. Do you really need to create this feature de novo, or could you perhaps incorporate good existing software?
I currently use Skim (http://skim-app.sourceforge.net/index.html) to annotate pdfs. When I locate a pdf in Papers, if I open the doc with Skim (my default viewer), all my notes and highlighting appear. If I simply click on the pdf in Papers, it appears unannotated. It would be nice if Papers could automatically read Skim's annotations and display them. For the record, I'm also pretty satisfied with Skim's features--maybe your development would be better focused on features other than annotation?
Last edited by secobey (2007-05-23 12:18:55)
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#2 2007-05-23 12:43:13
Re: Better integration with Skim (no need for highlighting)
Hi,
We understand your wish to stay compatible with Skim, however the structure that Skim has choosen to store the annotations is one that doesn't fit the structure of Papers very well, it's therefore unlikely we will have compatibility I'm afraid.
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#3 2007-05-23 14:04:56
- secobey
- New member
- Registered: 2007-05-23
- Posts: 7
Re: Better integration with Skim (no need for highlighting)
Bummer. Thanks for the explanation.
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#4 2007-05-24 18:35:53
- perinirf
- Member
- Registered: 2007-05-21
- Posts: 27
Re: Better integration with Skim (no need for highlighting)
Ummmmm Highlight into papers! This really would be awesome. Sorry secobey that it won't be compatible with your existing software, but definitely a great feature for Papers.
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#5 2007-10-08 02:46:28
- Jax
- Experienced User
- Registered: 2007-10-07
- Posts: 70
Re: Better integration with Skim (no need for highlighting)
It's really a pity that data structure is difficult to reconcile. I would love to see Skim integration like secobay. Or at least I would like to see a one-click solution to open a linked PDF from Papers in Skim. Currently, it's right click, select Skim from long list, click - too long a sequence for such a common action.
Could you explain a bit more about the data structure? Why are the two not compatible? As far as I understand Skim, it attaches the notes to the PDF file directly, no second annotation file or a separate database. I am worried that if I still use Skim, the notes created by the programme might later be deleted or corrupted by Papers PDF handling. Is that a real possibility or unfounded?
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#6 2007-10-08 22:35:42
- perinirf
- Member
- Registered: 2007-05-21
- Posts: 27
Re: Better integration with Skim (no need for highlighting)
Have you guys seen the quick review on the next version of Preview? It has all these features we are talking about. Since Papers uses Preview, I wonder if all these features will appear in the next (Leopard) version of Papers. Mek and Tosj probably cannot comment on this since they have an agreement with apple about non disclosure of future features. But you can check the preview here: http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/10/02/ … .hands.on/
A more complete "preview" of preview was available at AppleInsider but I cannot find it anymore... anyways, I think that leopard will bring us a lot of nice features in Papers... I hope!
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#7 2007-10-09 01:12:39
Re: Better integration with Skim (no need for highlighting)
Thanks everybody for the comments. A couple of quick remarks. First, we love skim, Adam, Michael and all other contributers to the project have done a marvelous job, and the speed which with Skim is developing is amazing. We will do our best to see if we can make Papers and Skim as compatible as possible. From the start of the project we left highlighting for a later version of Papers because two years ago we already knew the things perinirf is mentioning about Preview on Leopard. PDFKit was introduced in Tiger, but the highlighting part was of very poor quality and not really finished yet. In Leopard this has been more than corrected and we will definitely try to bring these features to Papers. Stay tuned!
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