Not really, this table doesn't show embedded notes (a feature I'm using for x-platform compatibility since other apps don't read the .skim files), while I can delete those in the default Preview app
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You cannot manage embedded notes in Skim directly (You can convert them to Skim notes though, and then you can delete them). There are good reasons for this. See also the FAQ on the WIki.
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Do you mean the Why are the notes not stored in the PDF? section?
Those reasons are for why you don't store note in the PDF, not why you can't conveniently delete the already stored ones
But more importantly, there are no good reasons there, only reasons that are relevant on the margins:
In Tiger,...
On Leopard...
Very old systems, so not relevant for most of the users
in many cases it is nice not to change the PDF itself
True, but in many more cases it's ok to change it, why not have the option to change to the EA/sidecar notes for those PDFs that you don't want to change and have the default be embedded?
In some cases, such as when the PDF is password-protected, this is not even possible
True, but an edge case, also doesn't explain why you can't switch to EA/sidecar only for these types for PDFs while having the default be embedded?
Another reason is that Adobe's PDF specifications do not allow a note such as Skim's Anchored Note, featuring rich text and an attached image. So saving notes in the PDF would always lead to data loss.
Fine explanation for why some types of notes aren't possible, doesn't explain why the most common type can't work in an embedded way. You could also store just these fancy types in a sidecar/EA manner
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They are related. The Skim notes are stored separately, precisely (partly) because we don't want to rewrite the PDF data. The embedded notes are part of the PDF data. Deleting the embedded notes would therefore imply rewriting the PDF. Which we don't do for reasons explained in the FAQ.
And it is still relevant, because that does not only depend on old systems, but also about PDF data more general and PDF data (still) being written by Apple's PDFKit to this day. And the way the program is organized (around its data) makes it impossible to make it a choice, as the whole operation needs to change if the data is rewritten on save.
(In general, I am not going to go into lengthy discussions about this issue anymore, that does not work.)
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Which we don't do for reasons explained in the FAQ.
Except the FAQ doesn't explain it because the listed reasons don't explain why the most common use case isn't supported
And the way the program is organized (around its data) makes it impossible to make it a choice, as the whole operation needs to change if the data is rewritten on save.
This is the reason — you'd need to rewrite too much in the app to allow it. This is an unfortunate, but understandable reason; it's also the reason not mentioned in the FAQ
Though maybe this doesn't have to be the case?
On save: you change nothing, all the operations remain as is and store info in the sidecars/EAs
On exit: you add a modified Close with embeddeding command that invokes the Export+With embedded notes operation, but without any file dialog though, just overwriting the file in-place
On open: you add an option to do the opposite conversion (embedded→notes) and then all the subsequent editing operations remain as is. Though currently it seems that on conversion all embedded notes are lost and replaced with a placeholder of the default style (so a simple transparent Text note created in Preview is turned into a yellow empty box note), so this operation is only suitable for when you want to delete a note (is this how conversion was supposed to work?), not when you want to edit it. Would it be also too hard to do the embedded→notes conversion correctly? If so, then this would kill this idea as well
(In general, I am not going to go into lengthy discussions about this issue anymore, that does not work.)
Ok, would be nice to have a relevant summary of the previous lengthy discussions in a FAQ or something to see what those covered and avoid repetition
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You can do so in the Notes table. Select all notes, and choose Delete from the contextual or main menu, or hit the Delete key.
Not really, this table doesn't show embedded notes (a feature I'm using for x-platform compatibility since other apps don't read the
.skimfiles), while I can delete those in the default Preview appYou cannot manage embedded notes in Skim directly (You can convert them to Skim notes though, and then you can delete them). There are good reasons for this. See also the FAQ on the WIki.
Do you mean the Why are the notes not stored in the PDF? section?
Those reasons are for why you don't store note in the PDF, not why you can't conveniently delete the already stored ones
But more importantly, there are no good reasons there, only reasons that are relevant on the margins:
Very old systems, so not relevant for most of the users
True, but in many more cases it's ok to change it, why not have the option to change to the EA/sidecar notes for those PDFs that you don't want to change and have the default be embedded?
True, but an edge case, also doesn't explain why you can't switch to EA/sidecar only for these types for PDFs while having the default be embedded?
Fine explanation for why some types of notes aren't possible, doesn't explain why the most common type can't work in an embedded way. You could also store just these fancy types in a sidecar/EA manner
They are related. The Skim notes are stored separately, precisely (partly) because we don't want to rewrite the PDF data. The embedded notes are part of the PDF data. Deleting the embedded notes would therefore imply rewriting the PDF. Which we don't do for reasons explained in the FAQ.
And it is still relevant, because that does not only depend on old systems, but also about PDF data more general and PDF data (still) being written by Apple's PDFKit to this day. And the way the program is organized (around its data) makes it impossible to make it a choice, as the whole operation needs to change if the data is rewritten on save.
(In general, I am not going to go into lengthy discussions about this issue anymore, that does not work.)
Except the FAQ doesn't explain it because the listed reasons don't explain why the most common use case isn't supported
This is the reason — you'd need to rewrite too much in the app to allow it. This is an unfortunate, but understandable reason; it's also the reason not mentioned in the FAQ
Though maybe this doesn't have to be the case?
Close with embeddedingcommand that invokes theExport+With embedded notesoperation, but without any file dialog though, just overwriting the file in-placeTextnote created in Preview is turned into a yellow empty box note), so this operation is only suitable for when you want to delete a note (is this how conversion was supposed to work?), not when you want to edit it. Would it be also too hard to do the embedded→notes conversion correctly? If so, then this would kill this idea as wellOk, would be nice to have a relevant summary of the previous lengthy discussions in a FAQ or something to see what those covered and avoid repetition