Fix highlights after PDF migration
Use the Needs review section after PDF highlight migration to find, place, or fix highlights that could not be anchored automatically.
After migrating legacy PDF highlights, some passages may land in Needs review if ZetaMarker could not place them automatically on the new PDF format.
When you see Needs review
- After Upgrade highlights completes on a legacy PDF
- A dialog may appear: "N highlight(s) needs your help"
- The sidebar shows Needs review (N) with a count
Most highlights appear on the PDF automatically — only unmatched ones need manual placement.
Fix a highlight in Needs review
For each item in the sidebar:
- Read the quoted text preview.
- Click Find in PDF — searches for the passage (up to 80 characters).
- If found, confirm placement; if the text appears multiple times, pick the correct occurrence in the duplicate picker.
- Or click Place manually → Select text in PDF… and drag to select the passage on one page.
- Your original highlight color is kept.
Other actions: Copy full text, delete the item.
Duplicate text picker
When the same text appears more than once:
- Title: This text appears multiple times
- Subtitle shows Highlight X of Y and the quoted text
- Choose the correct match with Use selected, or Skip for now to return later
After you finish
- Resolved highlights move out of Needs review into the normal sidebar list
- If signed in, changes sync to the dashboard
- If many items remain, work through them over multiple sessions — choose Later on the post-upgrade dialog
Related
- Migrate PDF highlights to the new format
- Highlight PDFs in the extension
- Sync conflicts — if edits fail after migration