Template: [Item] Colored Annotations by Type

[tplobo]

Description

Description

I created this template to more quickly create notes based on comments/critiques I have during manuscript reviews. My workflow consists of reading/commenting the manuscript in Zotero, and then exporting these comments to DOCX so that the author(s) can implement modifications or easily respond to them. I need annotation pages for the highlights, but adding the reference to the manuscript is unnecessary because it is not published.
Based on template #1272 by fabianlatz.

Issues

I am still working on getting a few things right, namely:

• pictures rendered from the image content of each Annotation (produced with the "Select Area" tool of Zotero) do not render properly sometimes, or take a while to render and look strangely small in the meantime.
• exporting the note to Word necessarily includes significant paragraph spacing between annotations (headings and comments), but I have not found the correct way to remove this spacing through setting properties in the HTML code of the note yet.
• date/time at the note title is sometimes is incorrect
• note title does not show up in Zotero library "title" field

If anyone has suggestions for addressing those, I would be very thankful!

Screenshots

Test on Zotero version

7.0.22

Test on Better Notes version

2.5.5

Template Type

Item

Template Share Code

# This template is specifically for importing/sharing, using better 
# notes 'import from clipboard': copy the content and
# goto Zotero menu bar, click Tools->New Template from Clipboard.  
# Do not copy-paste this to better notes template editor directly.
name: "[item] V0.4 Colored Annotations by Type"
zoteroVersion: "7.0.22"
pluginVersion: "2.5.5"
savedAt: "2025-08-11T10:27:27.593Z"
content: |-
  // @author [tplobo](https://github.com/tplobo)
  // @link [#1431](https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-better-notes/discussions/1431)
  // @use-refresh
  // @beforeloop-begin
  ${{
  	sharedObj.colors = {
  		"#ffd400": { name: "Comment", annotations: [] },  // Yellow
  		"#ff6666": { name: "Critique", annotations: [] }, // Red
  		"#5fb236": { name: "Definition", annotations: [] }, // Green
  		"#2ea8e5": { name: "Style", annotations: [] }, // Blue
  		"#a28ae5": { name: "Background information", annotations: [] }, // Purple
  		"#f19837": { name: "Other relevant sources", annotations: [] }, // Orange
  		"#aaaaaa": { name: "Practical application", annotations: [] }, // Grey
  		"#e56eee": { name: "Research gaps", annotations: [] } // Magenta
  	};
  	return "";
  }}$
  // @beforeloop-end
  
  // @default-begin
  ${{
    	async function getAnnotation(item) {
  		try {
  			if (!item || !item.isAnnotation()) {
  				return null;
  			}
  			let json = await Zotero.Annotations.toJSON(item);
  			json.id = item.key;
  			delete json.key;
  			for (let key in json) {
  				json[key] = json[key] || "";
  			}
  			json.tags = json.tags || [];
  			
  			if (json.type === "image" && json.image) {
  				json.renderedImage = `<div style="margin: 10px 0;"><img src="${json.image}" alt="Annotation Image" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; border: 1px solid #ccc;"></div>`;
  			}
  			
  			return json;
  		} catch (e) {
  			Zotero.logError(e);
  			return null;
  		}
  	}
  
    	async function getAnnotationsByColor(_attachment, color) {
      	const annots = _attachment.getAnnotations().filter((a) => a.annotationColor === color);
      	if (annots.length === 0) return [];
  
      	// get JSON for each annotation
      	const jsonAnnots = await Promise.all(annots.map(a => getAnnotation(a)));
      	return jsonAnnots.filter(Boolean);
    	}
  
    	const attachments = Zotero.Items.get(topItem.getAttachments())
      .filter(i => i.isPDFAttachment() || i.isSnapshotAttachment() || i.isEPUBAttachment());
  
  	sharedObj.colors = sharedObj.colors || {};
  	for (const c of Object.keys(sharedObj.colors)) {
  		sharedObj.colors[c].annotations = sharedObj.colors[c].annotations || [];
  	}
  
  	for (const color of Object.keys(sharedObj.colors)) {
  		for (const att of attachments) {
  			const annots = await getAnnotationsByColor(att, color);
  			sharedObj.colors[color].annotations.push(...annots);
  		}
  	}
  
    return "";
  }}$
  // @default-end
  
  // @afterloop-begin
  ${{
  	const rawDate = targetNoteItem.getField("dateAdded");
  	let formattedDate = "";
  	if (rawDate) {
  		const d = new Date(rawDate + (rawDate.includes('Z') ? '' : 'Z'));
  		const pad = (n) => (n < 10 ? "0" + n : n);
  		formattedDate = `${d.getFullYear()}-${pad(d.getMonth()+1)}-${pad(d.getDate())} ${pad(d.getHours())}:${pad(d.getMinutes())}`;
  	}
  
  	let output = `<h1>Manuscript Review - Colored Annotations by Type [${formattedDate}]</h1>`;
  	
  	let sectionCounter = 1;
  	for (const color in sharedObj.colors) {
  		const colorData = sharedObj.colors[color];
  		if (colorData.annotations.length > 0) {
  			output += `<h2><span style="color:${color};">${sectionCounter}. ${colorData.name}</span></h2>`;
  			let itemCounter = 1;
  			for (const annot of colorData.annotations) {
  				let content = "";
  				if (annot.type === "highlight") {
  					content = annot.text;
  				} else if (annot.type === "image") {
  					content = "Selected Area";
  				} else {
  					content = annot.text || "[No text]";
  				}
  				let page = annot.pageLabel;
  
  				output += `<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0;"><span style="color:${color};">${sectionCounter}.${itemCounter}. (page ${page}) ${content}</span></h3>`;
  				if (annot.type === "image" && annot.renderedImage) {
  					output += annot.renderedImage;
  				}
  				output += `<p style="margin-top: 0;">${annot.comment}</p><p>&nbsp;</p>`;
  				
  				itemCounter++;
  			}
  			sectionCounter++;
  		}
  	}
  	return output;
  }}$
  // @afterloop-end

Anything else

No response