Transferring Files and Formatting Issues

[kole]

Hi Scrivener users:

I'm new to this software and excited to use it. I just installed the program on my computer and have created a new project for a paper I'm presenting at a conference in June. I have a bunch of research already done. However, when I tried to import my research I noticed the following issues:

(1) Some of the .docx files that I imported into my Scrivener Project are appearing in the Greek alphabet, even though the original documents are in English. Not sure how to make them revert to the original English alphabet instead of the Greek one when in Scrivener.
(2) I had highlights and notes that I took in a number of the PDF files used for my research (mainly other journal articles). Now all of this mark-up is gone in Scrivener. Is there a way of preserving my notes and highlights that are present in the original PDF documents? Is it possible to highlight and markup PDF documents within Scrivener?

I really want to use this software, but most of the projects I have are already in progress and I won't be able to use the software if I: (a) have files that appear in a non-English alphabet; (b) all my markup on my research documents is invalidated. Would like to go beyond these small hitches to start using this great software...

Thank you for your time and consideration! Appreciate your help!

[thorjansen]

As far as importing files, I've always found it easier to save them as text files in the word processor first, then importing the text file instead. I've never done anything with PDF imports, though, is that even possible?

[AmberV]

1. This posting should resolve the Greek text issue.
2. Did you do your annotations in Skim, by chance? If so it by default uses a non-standard annotation method that is much faster and easier to work with. However it isn’t recognised by any other PDF reader. To make your Skim annotations compatible with the standards, you need to open each one and choose `File/Export...`, and use “PDF with Embedded Notes” as the file type option (and note there are some other options here that might be of interest to you).
   
   If you aren’t using Skim, then let me know what software you used to annotate the PDFs. As for annotation in Scrivener: very simply, yes. You can select passages and use a highlight marker on them, that is it. The PDF kit that we use in the software to display them is unfortunately rather simple (but it is free and provided by the OS, so there is that).

[kole]

Hi AmberV! Thanks so much for your help:

(1) The update seemed to work and it did get rid of the 'Greek' lettering in my Word files when I re-imported them into Srivener! Thank you

(2) I haven't used the program you mention. All my markups (notes and highlights) were done either in Preview or in Adobe Reader. Thing is that I have a ton of research and notes already done for the dissertation and I'd like to be able to retain the notes I've already made in these PDFs. Any ideas how to do this? At the moment the PDFs do show up fine, but all of my highlights, notes and comments are gone.

Thanks again for all the help!!

Best,
Kole

[AmberV]

That really shouldn't be a problem then. In fact Scrivener uses the same basic PDF engine that Preview does. Could you post a sample PDF, or send one to mac.support AT literatureandlatte DOT com? If you choose the latter, just put "attn: ioa" in the subject line so it gets to me.

[kole]

Hi AmberV:

I just re-imported the files into my newly downloaded version of scrivener and the highlights are all there! Thank you for your time and assistance.

★★★★★!!!

All the best,
Kole