I’d like this feature
I would also love this feature! I thought I would just mention a few things in regards to PDFs and browser-based annotation. I tried out Notable PDF and think it’s a great app if that is all you use. There are a few things that Paperpile can do better than what Notable does. I can think of two specific things:
- Allow for saving to the original file (overwriting). In Notable PDF, it never saves to the original file. To get the PDF back into Google Drive, you have to export it to Drive and Notable PDF appends a " - Export" to the end of the file name. Those of use using (and loving) Paperpile know that this new PDF is now no longer linked to our reference. Ugh!
- Create standards-based PDF annotations. Notable PDF’s annotations appear to be non-PDF standard. I bounce between a Chromebook and a Windows PC. When I open up Notable PDF files in Acrobat, annotations are just painted onto the PDF and are not really annotations (they don’t show up in the Comment List). You can see a screenshot here: http://bit.ly/1zk0TGp.
Thank you for being thoughtful about how you implement PDF annotations.
For some reason I think you will like our new annotator a lot 
Should be ready to test end of next week (or at latest the week after)
3 Likes
Awesome! I just went into my Paperpile settings and turned on the “Paperpile enhanced viewer”. I look forward to it getting even more enhanced!
I’d like to be a beta tester if you need one!!
Glad to hear my most wanted feature is almost here! Please count me in as a tester!
Chomping at bit…
Eager to help you test.
Thanks!
I would gladly help beta test, too 
Unfortunately there was last minute show-stopper for the planned private beta of our PDF annotator. I just wanted to check back at least with screenshot to demonstrate it’s real 
5 Likes
This looks great!
What is the next best estimate for the beta release?
Early or mid next week. It will be a beta anyway so we will release with some known issues. But as we now are writing PDFs we need to make sure not to mess up existing PDFs. So even for a beta we need to be careful.
Very exciting looking stuff!
Will the annotation feature arrive together with/before/after mobile support?
P.S. has the blog been discontinued completely? It would be nice to get an update on where Paperpile is heading currently. Although active development of course takes priority!
The PDF feature will definitely be the next big enhancement. We will roll out out in stages, first as independent general PDF annotator for Google Drive (also useful for other things). Then we will integrate it to Paperpile.
We keep improving little things all the time (https://paperpile.com/changelog) and have worked quite hard behind the scenes to be able to offer Paperpile site licenses for universities and companies. Also we have some new stuff coming relating to Google Docs integration.
Also the blog is not dead but we have not had too much time for writing lately. That also should change soon.
3 Likes
Ok, here we go. I’ve invited everyone in this thread to a private group in this forum and you should have access to this thread here, with all the details about the beta:
It’s always an exciting moment to share some significant work with new users the very first time. Thanks to @andreas who led the project.
Things will break but I hope with your help we can move fast in making this feature available to all Paperpile users.
1 Like
Hi Stefan, could I please have access to the thread?
Sure, I’ve added you to the private beta group.
Stefan,
Can you add me to the group too. I have few quick questions, is the PDF Annotation completely browser based and independent of platform ?? Are the notes (highlights+comments) going to be searchable?
Thanks, Keep up the great work.
You’re added. As for your questions: yes and yes.