Sharing handwriting between tablets and PCs

See the handwriting from your tablet on your PC and your other tablets, and the other way round. Where it travels depends on the edition and on where you wrote it.

Applies to Mendeley and Zotero editions Windows · Mac · iPad Included in the purchase

Where your handwriting goes

Handwriting travels with the paper in your Mendeley or Zotero library — not with a separate copy of the PDF.

Edition	Written on the PDF page	Written in Reading Mode
Mendeley edition (all systems)	Goes to Mendeley as a file named "Rectoly handwriting" attached to the paper, while handwriting sharing is on (it is on by default). Mendeley itself does not draw it; Rectoly on your other devices does.	The same file, under the same setting.
Zotero edition (all systems)	Always syncs as Zotero's own ink annotations, so Zotero on your computer shows it too.	Goes to Zotero as a file named "Rectoly handwriting" attached to the paper, while Keep Reading Mode handwriting in Zotero is on (it is on by default).

Mac · iPadOn iPad and Mac, you can also turn on Sync and back up handwriting via iCloud to sync handwriting between your own Apple devices. It is off by default because handwriting takes up iCloud storage. See iCloud backup.

Syncing handwriting is included in the purchase. It is free during the 14-day trial and inside the sample paper. Your handwriting always stays on the device where you wrote it. See Trial and purchase.

The setting on each system

Mac · iPadMendeley editionSettings › Sync & Backup › Handwriting sharing › Keep Reading Mode handwriting in Mendeley. This one switch covers the handwriting on the PDF page too.
Mac · iPadZotero editionSettings › Sync & Backup › Handwriting sharing › Keep Reading Mode handwriting in Zotero.
WindowsMendeley editionSettings › Sync › Keep Reading Mode handwriting in Mendeley.
WindowsZotero editionSettings › Sync › Keep Reading Mode handwriting in Zotero.

When the switch is off, the handwriting that the setting covers stays on the device where you wrote it.

See your tablet's handwriting on your PC

On the tablet, sign in to Mendeley or Zotero with the same account as on the PC.
Open the paper from your Mendeley or Zotero library, not as a separate file.
Check that the setting above is on, on the tablet.
Keep the same setting on on the PC, and sync the paper's annotations (see Annotation sync).

If handwriting does not appear

Check the three things above: the same account, the paper opened from the library, and the setting on — on both devices.
If someone deleted the "Rectoly handwriting" file in Mendeley or Zotero, Rectoly stops sending it until you say so. Recreate handwriting files in Mendeley (N) (in the Zotero edition, Recreate handwriting files in Zotero (N)) appears next to the setting; choose it to send the handwriting again.
Handwriting in Reading Mode can look shifted on another device. See Reading Mode.