Hello all,
Some months ago, popped this ([url]'Open in GoodReader' messes up the name of the PDF]) up in response to a query, and I’ve since been playing around with some options.
I’ve now reached the final part of the process, but am concerned I might be missing something far more simple, to try and finally “join up” my PDF article, and its annotated notes.
I would appreciate some suggestions from anyone who might have some ideas!
To summarise:
1.) Replicate PDF’s I want to annotate into my Sync folder, in DTPO;
2.) Label them all Green: “Currently Being Looked At”;
3.) Sync to DTTG;
4.) Identify PDF I want to annotate in Goodreader - label it Purple: “Being Collected” - open in Goodreader;
5.) In Goodreader, tap on Toolkit icon next to filename [Note: Goodreader has now automatically allocated a new, unique filename to the PDF (e.g. BFC29FE1-76FB-4F33-81AB-520FC3036AC0)] - tap on “LINK”;
6.) The following pop-up menu appears: “Link Copied to Clipboard: Now you can paste it to any application that can open URL links for automatic opening of this file in GoodReader”;
7.) Back to DTTG - tap on INFO icon of the article that has just been sent to GR, tap on COMMENT, tap & hold to paste - clean up the few lines of URL coding before and after the GR unique filename - maybe insert something like “GR code:” before the unique filename, although this shouldn’t be necessary, strictly speaking - tap SAVE;
7a.) This step is crucial - it’s now pasted the GR Unique Code into the Spotlights Comment section of the article in DTTG, which when synched back to DTPO, will serve as the ‘link’ between the Annotation to be made, and the relevant PDF article that was annotated;
8.) Back to Goodreader - annotate the document;
9.) Where I insert an annotated/“sticky” note, with a comment for myself - I FIRST type “GR@N”, [for GoodReader Annotation - obviously others could type anything here that would make for a uniquely identifiable term, that is only likely to appear in Goodreader annotations], hit ENTER, and then insert my comment in between two <> symbols. I’m hoping this latter step might help my in future, should I come up with some sort of Applescript, to parse only that text immediately following “GR@N” and to be found between <> - although, I’m not sure if this is possible;
10.) Finish annotating document - call up document contextual menu in Goodreader, tap on the ‘book icon’ in the middle, at the bottom, and open the Bookmarks/Outlines/Annotations pop-up menu. Tap on EMAIL SUMMARY - email it to myself;
11.) Tap “OPEN IN” button - “Send PDF as is” - open PDF in DTTG;
12.) Change label of PDF that has just been annotated in GR from Purple (“Being Collected”) - to Red (New - To Read) – again, not strictly necessary, but this way, I can keep track of all pdfs that are currently being annotated in GR, those that have been annotated already, and those that still must be annotated;
13.) RINSE AND REPEAT - repeat Steps 4-12 above, with each of the PDF’s in DTTG, until all have been annotated in GR and then returned to DTTG - and all have had their Annotation summaries emailed;
14.) Sync back to DTPO – check that annotations made on all the PDFs in my Sync folder, that are now all labeled Red “New - To Read”, are duly reflected on the original files, wherever they may be (hence my replicating the files into the sync folder initially) – if changes are reflected [and they always are, it’s merely a precautionary check that I perform each time] - DELETE all files in the sync folder.
14a.) With the sync files deleted, the originally-replicated files become the sole instances of the files again - but all annotations made in GR via DTTP are now reflected on them, without my having had to move any files anywhere.
15.) Open MAIL – got to “GR Annotation” Smart Mailbox, which looks for “Annotation Summary for File” in the subject line of the emails so sent from GR;
16.) (Here be a clunky part - suggestions welcome!) Select body of email, copy into Textedit, save RTF file with name of Unique Code copied from first line of body of email, place in Folder being watched/indexed by DTPO;
17.) Open DTPO - paste same Unique Code (that I have just copied in Step 16 - therefore still in my clipboard) into the search field – this calls up the Annotation Summary rtf file that has now been indexed in, AND the PDF article that has the same Unique Code within the Spotlights comment section - as placed there by Step 7;
18.) I then see the image below:
Here be the top corner of the RTF summary, as showing the initial information placed therein automatically, by the Email Annotation Summary process. Note the link I created, to link the RTF annotation summary to the PDF in question (Bogg_Death of Statutory Recognition…")
What I would appreciate some guidance in:
What would be the easiest, most meaningful manner to “link” the RTF of the annotation summary, and the PDF of the actual article?
Obviously, having the two linked, would allow me to conduct searches with “GR@N”, for whatever annotated note I can remember having made somewhere… I could then find the annotated text, and link back to the original PDF. Since the RTF remains editable, I could add additional commentary, that I might choose to add after the annotation process via GR was completed, inside the RTF document.
I have become an avid fan of the “New from Template-Annotation” - since this automatically generates the live link between PDF and any notes I make, which is brilliant. I would prefer to be able to either replicate this process with my Annotation summary RTF’s, or somehow simply incorporate them into that existing Template-Annotation process…
I’m really open to suggestions about all of the above - so far I’ve only done about 15 odd summaries, and want to try and settle on the correct approach, before continuing.
Last point I could make, is that seeing all my steps set-out above like that, I can imagine that it looks like a laborious and time-consuming process. Happily, it’s not at all… Most of that really involves a few taps here and there, and is done in seconds. Were I to have to do batches and batches of them at once, then yes - it could get tedious - but doing it as I finish an annotation really doesn’t take me all that long, before moving on to the next one…