Can I use a stylus to annotate my pdfs?

Questions & Help
1

Hi,

I’m considering changing my way of reading papers, and annotate them, from using OneNote to use LogSeq. However, I have some doubts.
Currently, my setup is uploading and pdf file to onenote (which converts each page into photos) and then use my stylus to highlight and write on top.
Can I do the same in LogSeq, or do you plan to have this feature?

Best,
Samuel

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2

I don’t have a device with a stylus, so I can not confirm.
I know that the upcoming whiteboard feature supports styluses.
I am also noticing the team working on improving the PDF workflow in Logseq.

I recommend downloading Logseq on your device with a stylus and giving it a shot.
Is it an iPad btw?

3

BTW, Logseq does not need to convert your PDF to images to be able to annotate it. That doesn’t sound very pleasant, to be honest.

4

I just tried, I think they currently don’t support PDF in the mobile app.

However, I can annotate in the desktop App.

5

Yeah I guess it’s still work in progress for mobile devices. It’s good to keep in mind that logseq is still in bera while one-note is a mature project.

6

With PDF readers, native in iOS or also in the OneDrive app, or external like PDF Expert, you can annotate the PDF itself with a stylus. Indeed, that functionality within LogSeq’s PDF editor would be fantastic.

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7

@SSamuel @fragefrank please make sure to leave an upvote here:

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8

When you upload a file to logseq it goes into your assets folder, all files are located there. If you just open the pdf from there you can annotate and highlight it however you want. I just open pdfs on my ipad and annotate with the default iOS markup app. Works great.

9

Microsoft Surface user here.

A surface + logseq seems like it could be the perfect combo for an academic workflow.

But!

  • MS touch and stylus can’t properly resize the pdf viewer pane – this must be done with a mouse.
  • MS touch cannot properly highlight text so that it can be annotated – this must be done with a mouse.
  • When using a portrait oriented screen like on the Surface in tablet mode it doesn’t make sense to have the annotaion/edn file side by side with the PDF. You either want to be able to annotate with the references silently going to the annotation list in the background with the pdf view being full screen or you want logseq to detect that it is in portrait mode and made the views one above the other instead of side by side.

Currently these things can kinda sorta be worked around but it is pretty janky and you need to use a mouse a lot with your tablet which isn’t ideal. But even with these flaws I think that this is the best thing going for reading and annotating a ton of papers.

And, in response to the above discussion about access to the files in /assets… why can’t I right click on an asset reference and reveal the file in the finder/explorer? Feels like that would be a good feature to have. Sometimes I have serveral versions of a file and it can be hard to figure out which one is which in the crowded/confusing assets directory.

10

yes, but in this case you do not have access to the text of your annotations and annotation references inside logseq… right? I can annotate pdfs anywhere, the reason why I want to do them in logseq on all my devices is that the workflow enabled by getting easy access to the highlighted text with hotlink references back to the document and page highlit is very powerful.

11

Bit of a late response… but I just tried my old workflow, and I can’t see the annotations made on my iPad in my PC any more (syncing through pCloud). Not sure what they changed or why, but this is super disappointing.