i62HD annotation merge PDF bug

[talizh]

Hi,

In addition to the bug that I reported earlier (annotations made on a PDF in reflow mode cannot be merged into a new PDF) I have noticed another bug using the new PDF reader on the latest firmware.

If I am annotating a PDF document in landscape mode with autocrop margins enabled then none of these annotations show up on the new PDF file created with the merge function. On the original document I can see my highlights in the list of annotations and everything, but nothing shows up in the merged document.

Has this happened to anyone else or are there any work arounds?

Thanks!

[Mono]

Hi,
I would not say that problems with scribling in pdf reflow mode is the bug. I cannot imagine, how the scriblings could be correctly handled in merged pdf if created in reflow.

There is no correct solution except one. Not allow scribling in pdf if reflow. But someone wants to do scribling and does not need export to merged pdf....

[talizh]

Originally Posted by Mono

Hi,
I would not say that problems with scribling in pdf reflow mode is the bug. I cannot imagine, how the scriblings could be correctly handled in merged pdf if created in reflow.

There is no correct solution except one. Not allow scribling in pdf if reflow. But someone wants to do scribling and does not need export to merged pdf....

Hi Mono,

Yeah, I agree with you about the scribbles. Scribbles do not work with reflow but the annotations [highlighting] should.

On the Onyx you can highlight a PDF in reflow and then change the view to 100% zoom and the highlights will be in the correct place on the document (unlike scribbles which will be out of position and oversized, etc.). In fact, PDF reading apps on Android such as ezPDF and ReplicGo Reader also allow highlighting and even underlining in reflow mode but like the Onyx's PDF reader freehand drawings and scribbles will not work with reflow just as you said.

So I can make annotations in reflow mode and see them in the right place when I go out of reflow. The problem is that these highlights are not showing up when I merge the annotations into a new PDF.

I thought I would get around the problem by viewing the PDFs in landscape mode (because of the i62HD's small screen size) and using margin crop instead of reflow but again I find that the highlights are not showing up when I merge the document (with the New PDF reader).

Am I doing something wrong?

[Mono]

I see, I was not sure if you speak about annotations or scribles. I expected annotations to work in reflow, so came (wrongly) that you speak about scribles...

I do not use annotations, only scribles, so I do not know. Generaly, anotations should work in reflow and landscape. (From programmers side I might understand that there might be difficulties if reflow is used. But I do not see any reason in landscape and no reflow...)

There were/are problems with certain languages, or better said specific letters (with accents, etc.) in certain languages. And also for pdfs created from LaTex.

So, the cause of your problems might be language (or coding used) of pdf and not reflow/landscape setup of doc.

[talizh]

Thanks Mono,

Yeah, I have tried a variety of PDFs and this problem has occured in all of them. You make a good point that it is unlikely the same thing causing annotation problems in reflow and in landscape. Perhaps there are two different bugs? In the old PDF reader I am able to make annotations in landscape mode with cropped margins and they merged into a new PDF with no problem.

Using scribbles definitely seems the right way to go, at least until the next firmware update I have used scribbles on scanned books without OCR'ed text and they work without a problem!

Thanks again for your help!

[Pooh_]

talizh,
do you see the annotations, made in new pdf reader, when you read this document (not merged yet) in old pdf reader?
Try to make annotations in new reader, then merge it in old one.

[talizh]

In case anyone else using the i62HD has had this problem I will post the work-arounds that I found.

My original problem was that when using the i62 to read academic PDFs on the 6 inch screen I found that using landscape view and page scrolling was the most convenient for viewing the documents. Unfortunately, I have found that annotations made in scrolling mode do not show up in the new PDF file created through the MERGE function, though you can export them into a text file. Likewise, annotations made while viewing the PDF in reflow mode (the 200%, 250% font size, etc.) also do not show up when you merge the document. (And when they do show up, it's a big vague patch covering half of the page, not necessarily the sentence you originally highlighted). In the above post, Pooh suggested trying to merge using the old PDF reader. It was a good idea but it didn't work. The merged document was still blank.

Through trial and error I found that annotations made in page view will show up on a merged document. So the bug only occurs with annotations made in scrolling mode. On the 9 inch screen of the M92 this bug probably never shows up because the entire page can be read and annotated in page mode and navigating to the next page is simple. On the i62's smaller screen, however, reading a book in page mode is not easy, especially in landscape view. In particular, I found that if you use your fingers to navigate to the bottom of a page in landscape view and then clicked next page turn, it would take you to the bottom of the next page, not the top. So, reading in scroll mode or reflow is almost a necessity.

Work Arounds

1. PDF reflow
I found that this works. When reading in PDF reflow mode I make a highlight and then change the view to 100% view (which shows the entire page). Then I tap my highlight again (so the window pops up allowing me to edit the content of my note). It is not necessary to type anything. I just exit that screen by hitting the home button and then go back to my prefered zoom level and resume reading. I find that as long as you tap each annotation in 100% zoom mode, they will show up when you merge the document. Alternatively, when you find something you want to highlight you can just go to 100% zoom first and then highlight the sentence but sometimes it can be hard to see on the 6 inch screen at 100% zoom.

2. Landscape mode and using page scrolling
Again, the easiest way is to read the document in scrolling mode and then open the menu and select 'Page View' just before you highlight something. After making your highlight you can open the menu and re-select scrolling mode to resume your reading. If the annotation toolbar at the bottom of the screen was sticky this would be much easier. As it is, changing page view means that you have to go back and bring up the annotation toolbar one more time, an extra step of clicks. Nevertheless, it is a small price to pay for merging my annotations.

In my case, at least, these work arounds have solved my problem of being unable to merge annotations in a new PDF file.

Hopefully the engineers at Onyx figure out the problem now that I have isolated it to scrolling mode and reflow mode but until then there is a way, it just requires a few more steps each time you make a highlight.

[Mono]

What about using Paper page mode? And zoom instead of reflow? It would make things easier for you.

[talizh]

Thanks for the excellent suggestion Mono. Usually the articles that I read do not have two columns so I never thought about Paper page mode. Annotations made in Paper page mode will merge normally. And by fiddling with the new page margin settings in the most recent update it is also possible to use paper page mode without having to scroll through the page twice (like it was designed to do on two column pages). Excellent!

I think reflow is still sometimes necessary on the i62 (for reading very wide pages that still won't fit comfortably even in landscape view) but using paper page mode and customized margins is the best way to ensure that the annotations can be merged!

Thanks again! Annotating has just gotten a lot easier!

[Mono]

I am glad it has helped you.