Open an item's PDF in Obsidian

Read a Zotero item's PDF in an Obsidian tab instead of switching to Zotero.

ZotLit opens the PDF in Obsidian's own PDF reader, whether the file sits inside your vault or in Zotero's storage folder. Only PDF attachments open this way; EPUBs, web snapshots, and other file types stay in Zotero.

You need Obsidian 1.14.2 or later, which ZotLit 2.2 also requires.

From a literature note

With the literature note open in Obsidian:

• Open the command palette and run ZotLit: Open PDF.
• Or right-click the note's tab and choose Open PDF from the zotlit section of the file menu.

From the annotation view

Open the view's pane menu and choose Open PDF. This opens the attachment the view shows. The menu leaves the entry out while the view follows that PDF's tab in Obsidian.

From the quick switcher

Run ZotLit: Open literature note quick switcher, search for the item, and press Shift+Enter on the result. The PDF opens without the literature note. See Use the quick switcher for every chord a result takes.

From Zotero

These entry points need ZotLit Companion, the Zotero add-on, at the version released with ZotLit 2.2. Install ZotLit Companion has the current version.

• In the library, select one PDF attachment, or one item that has a PDF, and choose Open PDF in Obsidian from the top-level context menu.
• While reading a PDF in Zotero, right-click inside the page and choose Open PDF in Obsidian. This opens the PDF you are reading.

From a file link in a note

A literature note's fileLink writes a link straight to the attachment file, and an annotation's fileLink adds the page it came from and the annotation itself. Click one and the PDF opens in Obsidian, on that page, with that annotation selected and scrolled into view. An annotation Zotero no longer has still opens the PDF on its page.

This applies to any link in your vault that points at a PDF in your Zotero library, however the link got there. A link to any other file — an EPUB, a web snapshot, a PDF Zotero does not know about — opens in your system app as before.

To open one link in your system app anyway, right-click it and choose Open in default browser. To turn the whole behavior off, clear Open PDF file links in Obsidian in Settings → ZotLit → Reader.

What you get

When the item has one PDF, it opens straight away. When it has several, ZotLit asks which one to open; the picker lists them by file name and its search box reads Select a PDF to open.

When the item has no PDF, ZotLit shows This item has no PDF attachment. When the file is no longer on disk, it shows The PDF file is missing. In neither case does ZotLit open the file in Zotero instead.

The annotation view comes forward in the sidebar with the PDF, so the item's highlights appear beside it. While the view is in Active tab mode, it follows the PDF tab.

To keep your sidebar as it is, turn off Settings > ZotLit > Reader > Reveal the annotation view. See Settings.

See also