Sonny Software

In iOS Bookends, I can annotate a PDF in Bookends or an app like PDF Expert and when I go back to Bookends-iOS, the annotations are automatically viewable in Bookends itself as PDF notes (but these are not synced as iCloud data I think?). In macOS Bookends, annotations in either Bookends or other apps are visible in the PDF viewer itself[1], but do not affect the Note stream. I really like that Bookends-iOS has an "automated" annotations view, and wish this was also an option for macOS. Is there someway to get this behaviour? This view would be like a simplified version of https://highlightsapp.net which combines annotations and comments into a Note stream.

Also, even if I select a PDF highlight, I cannot currently make a PDF Note, the option is always greyed out (see screenshot), and the key binding doesn't work. Can anyone reproduce? Bookends 13.4.5 & macOS 10.15.6 (19G2021)

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[1] It would be nice if there was a "refresh", as if we annotate in another app the PDF remians stale and notmally you need to click to another references, then click back to get the actual state.

It seems we cannot add attachments anymore, please find screenshots here:

https://imgur.com/a/3JVokhF

The cool auto-note stream in iOS:


Cannot make a Note from selection:

1. To see annotations in the note stream you have to enable that in the Action popup.

2. There is no selected text to make a note from. And it seems it's already a note card in the database.

Jon
Sonny Software

1. Yes, brilliant thank you!!!!!!

2. Ah, these options only work on a text selection whereas I selected the annotation itself (the box around the highlighted text denoting a selected annotation). Does it make sense to expand the "Make PDF Note from Selection" to apply to selection of text or selection of annotations themselves?

These are 2 different types of annotation. You had a chance to make a PDF Note annotation when you selected the text. Instead you chose to create a highlight annotation. There nothing stopping you from making a Note as well, it just won't automatically contain the selected text, but you can enter that yourself.

Jon
Sonny Software

P.S. In case you're not aware of it, the screen image you posted indicates you're using an older version of Bookends. If your license period for free upgrades hasn't expired I recommend you update to the current release.

The problem is that most of my highlight annotations are made using PDF Expert or Highlights on iOS or macOS. I would like to be able to select the highlights I make and turn them into permanent Note cards. At the moment you are suggesting that I select the text in the highlight to make a new card, but I cannot select text inside the highlight so can't make a new card with the same text. I can open the Note stream, then make a PDF annotation from the highlight annotation, but I was wondering if I could do that directly from the PDF itself?

Regarding my version, it is V13.4.5, which says it is the latest.

That command you referred to makes a PDF note -- an annotation! It has nothing to do with importing the text into the library, which is what I gather you want to do. To import an annotation into the database, right-click on it in the note stream and select "Add the selected PDF annotation to Bookends".

Please refer to the user guide (Help menu), which thoroughly discusses PDF annotations and how they work with the note stream.

Jon
Sonny Software

I was asking why we can only import a Notecard from the Note Stream, and not from the pre-existing PDF annotation directly[*]?

PDF Highlight/Annotation[1] > Automatic Note Stream Item[2] > Note Field text (Notecard)[3]

Currently we can create [3] using [2], but not [1]... It would improve the workflow if we could also do [1] > [3]. We can select [1] in your PDF display (the grey box around the highlighted text), so I'm asking for a "Make Bookends Notecard" from such a selection; as I am more often than not viewing the PDF in the side panel, or I don't have the Note Stream view open, but the editor. Once an annotation is made there is no way to select the text again, so we have to go through [2]. I did read through p114-115 in the User guide, but didn't see a solution.


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[*] I know we can select text and then do it, but my use case is if the PDF has been annotated already...

I explained how to do that above.

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To import an annotation into the database, right-click on it in the note stream and select "Add the selected PDF annotation to Bookends".
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This can't be done in the reference edit pane -- no note stream options are available there because the note stream isn't visible. This is by design and will not be changed.

Jon
Sonny Software

P.S. Now with the new widescreen option there is pretty much no reason to use the edit pane to display PDFs. I advise anyone doing so to show the PDF and the note stream in the widescreen view.