Exporting PDF Annotations

Citavi does not save annotations made in the preview pane in the original PDF file. Instead, annotations are saved in a layer. This lets multiple team members work with the same PDF file without being distracted by each other's annotations. If you're working on a project by yourself and especially if you're working on different computers, you should tell Citavi to export your annotations to the PDF file.

Exporting Annotations One Time Only

  1. Open the PDF file in the Citavi preview pane. In the Reference Editor in the right-hand panel, click Preview and select the PDF file from the list.
  2. Click Tools > Export PDF annotations or press F9.
  3. Select whether you want to export annotations from the current PDF document or from all PDF documents in the project.
  4. Select whether Citavi should save annotations in the existing file or if it should make a copy with the annotations and save it in another location.
  5. Select whether Citavi should save the Citavi reference information (author, year, title, etc.) in the PDF metadata. We recommend this option, as it allows others to import the PDF file and any improvements you made to the bibliographic information.

Always Save Annotations in the PDF File

Only for local projects: if you regularly work with PDF files in Citavi and in other programs, we recommend always saving your annotations in the PDF file. You can choose to set this option for each project:

  1. Open your Citavi project.
  2. On the File menu, click This project.
  3. Click Properties.
  4. Switch to the Attachments tab.
  5. Select the Always save Citavi annotation in PDF file as well checkbox.

Citavi will save your annotations as soon as you switch to another reference in Citavi or when you close the project.