Hi @vicente, after a few weeks of work, I can share my current experience, should it be useful for you.
Using the web app from a tablet works good enough. Finding and adding papers is smooth. Editing metadata is not: the focus in the input fields is quite unstable, and if you type fast, the caret moves around or letters are duplicated. In general, the editing panel slows down the experience significantly.
You cannot use the automatic update of metadata, but that was expected as it’s based on the extension that you cannot install in off-the-shelf android chrome.
Adding comments to a paper is also ok: sometimes the textarea where to write comments randomly closes, but it’s manageable.
Reading PDFs works. Highlighting and writing text notes also works. Unfortunately, in the browser you don’t have any possibility to scribble, which is one of the most important ways I take notes on papers.
So, my overall workflow is currently the following:
I import a paper from the tablet’s browser, adding the pdf.
Fire up the android app. Read and scribble, using @paperbrain trick not to loose annotations. 1/3 of the times I yell because they actually get lost anyhow.
Get back to the android browser, open the pdf, use the “summary” feature to get all highlights, and write a summary in the comments.
Once I get in the office/home, I open up the browser, update the metadata, and add labels/folders.
As you can see, it’snot really a smooth workflow: you need 2 different apps and 2 different devices to get the work done. Also, the most important part (scribbling) is a work that is sometimes lost.
I really hope that we can get all this sorted very soon in the future!
The recent mobile updates addressed small nuisances and general maintenance. We understand the gravity here for all affected users but unfortunately the scale of this issue requires time and resources we have not been able to spare. Once the new web app and extension are fully implemented, we will be able to address this and other important pending matters on mobile and other areas.
This is definitely still an issue! For the last few months when I finish annotating a paper, then I navigate to my library, open the document I was just annotating, and poof! No annotations. This happens when using my Samsung tablet and Samsung phone and also when using wifi and when using mobile data.
Still no fix for this, almost 3 years later?
Edit:
My work around: when I finish annotating a paper, I print it to PDF, annotations and all. That way when the annotations get deleted, I still have a version with them saved. Hopefully this continues to work.
I have the same issue on my S9 tablet. I found, however, that the annotations are actually still there, but just invisible. If I close the app and re-open it, the annotations will re-appear on the document. However, any time I go back to my library they disappear again until I close and re-open it again. This really needs to be fixed, it makes the experience pretty awful on Android.
Same thing happening to me, constantly. I use boox eink devices and a Samsung tablet. it happens on both regularly. However there is a variation on whether they are permanently disappearing or temporarily. Sometimes if I fully close the app and reopen they reappear. That is a more common experience - however today I have had a whole series of notes permanently disappearing. That is why I came to the forum. To see what’s going on. As a test I also opened the PDF on the Mac version and was visually checking if it was syncing and uploading the highlights. So far with the Mac version open at the same time it seems to be more reliable, but who knows? This is indeed frustrating.
It’s really annoying. I use both ipad and samsung tablet. With ipad there’s no problem, but seriously, who know what could happen?
The problem with s8 pro started this Feb or so. When I close a PDF and reopen it, everything disappears. It never stays. not once. The only way to see the annotation is to print PDF before closing, which is really bothering. I don’t want to make tons of duplicated files. This is definitely not a pleasant experience.
Thanks for the reports. We’ve already started working on a head-to-toe update for the mobile apps which will finally take care of this issue. There should be more news to share after the summer.
If you have been affected by this issue and would prefer not to continue using Paperpile, please contact us via chat or email (support@paperpile.com).
Hi everyone, I am facing the same problem with my Galaxy Tab S9. However, I think I have found a workflow to overcome these issues. What I am doing is as follows:
I sync my papers with Google Drive.
I use Foxit PDF Editor to access my drive and annotate the synced files.
On my desktop PC, I use the web version of Paperpile to access the papers (there is some file caching with the browser extension, which I think caused some problems for me).
I still don’t really get, when Paperpile syncs with Google Drive. But my description should work the other way around.
Hopefully a new version of the app will be released soon.
Hi, I have the same issue on my Chromebook - I have a paper open that I have a number of highlights on. I started up my Chromebook today to read through my highlights but they all seem to have disappeared. I have opened and closed the paper, Paperpile and switched between the old and new Paperpile several times but nothing seems to restore my comments. Is there any way to fix this please?
Hi! I’ve also encountered highlights disappearing using Paperpile’s native PDF reader on Chrome. I’m using a Mac with MacOS Sonoma 14.6, if that helps.
Welcome to the forum, @Anna_Friedlander and @loruma09. Thank you for reporting and I’m sorry for the trouble. Can you let us know if you made these annotations after opening a PDF from the new app, or from the old app?
@Anna_Friedlander, @loruma09, besides letting us know if you are using our old or new interface (new one is app.paperpile.com), could you share the details of the PDFs where annotations were lost so we can have a deeper look on backend? If possible, select the item(s) in your library, press Ctrl+J and share the resulting output with us — can be here, via in-app messenger or email (support@paperpile.com). Thanks in advance for your help troubleshooting this matter.
