Bob Jenkins

I don’t see the link to export the knol…just the one to download. I don’t get it,

davidalman

What a terrible mess.

I’ve transferred my Knols across to Annotum, and lost all images on some articles when I made some typographic amendments to reset changes resulting from the conversion. The support people seem nice but it’s been weeks since I reported the problem and I don’t know when this will be fixed.

Also I’ve lost a Google link across to my Annotum article, so when you search the web, it goes to the Knol but not onto the article now in Annotum. This what you get at the Knol knol.google.com/k/organizational-health and this is the article at Annotum proventivesolutions.wordpress.com/article/organizational-health-11ytsa5mr372d-14/

So frustrating.

annotum

If you need help or support for Annotum, please contact us via annotum.org/support. Thanks!

davidalman

My concern over what has happened in the transfer of my Google Knol articles to Annotum, not only questions in my mind the readiness of WordPress to undertake a successful and seamless transfer using Annotum, but also my confidence in Google products in general.

To have a product like Google Knol extinguished along with its thousands of articles, with the awkwardness I’ve experienced in transferring my articles to another site, makes me wonder what happens if Google decide to drop another product like Blogger, or Google Docs. Can I trust Google products or am I safer to use Microsoft and other websites, may not be said but the doubt has occurred to me now. This has been a bad experience. How long do I have to wait for support to work it out?

annotum

David, I understand your concerns. For what it’s worth, Google did spend quite a bit of time, effort, and money to make this transition as seamless as possible, although in some cases the transfer fell short. While many thousands if not tens of thousands of people were able to transfer content to WordPress and to other sites, some people had difficulties. That’s unfortunate, but it’s also the case that the service was always free, the transfer is free, and it continues to be free to host content on WordPress.com.

At the end of the day, even if the automated transfer has had its share of problems, Google’s takeout feature has let anyone get every last bit of their content, including graphics, in a complete ZIP archive file.

I think the question of whether other products or services will go on or be dropped is a legitimate one, but I also think that the idea that Google will simply “drop” Google Docs is pretty unlikely. And I’m quite sure that if they did decide to close another service or product, you’d be able to get your content out.

As to the use of alternatives such as Microsoft, it was Microsoft’s decision to migrate its own blog platform, Windows Live Spaces, to WordPress.com, and the relatively seamless process there that suggested this approach for Knol.

In any case, we’ve already contacted you via the Annotum support site on UserVoice, so please feel free to follow up there with any additional support questions.

davidalman

Thank you for your reply.

As I understand what has happened, and as I also interpret Annotum Support advice to me. It’s mess up.

> Annotum articles cannot cope with the images within my Google Knol articles it seems. Hence their disappearance. The recommendation is to convert them to posts (blogs). So from my point of view a recommendation to transfer Google Knol articles was made with a built in inherent problem. This is not being fixed by Annotum, I’ve got to do more work and reconvert articles to posts.

> It took months to give me this advice (since March), meanwhile my articles are messed up for viewers (and still are).

> On conversion one article’s transfer URL at Google Knol did not take effect and I lost its URL position (SEO) on search engines. That’s just too bad now, tough luck!

In this I have to struggle with the question is it me, and my lack of understanding of a new site (WordPress) in representing my material and of transfer issues. In this I know that that is true.

I just feel this has not been an easy ride, no matter the best intentions and efforts of Google and WordPress. And I don’t feel appreciative of what I’ve gone though to date.

Appreciate your time in considering my disappointments.

Mito

Hi,

Is there somebody who may answer questions related to annotum, or this project is already dead?
I would like to know how to remove the “Author” line in each post.
This is a “ugly “appearance; long line and bold and italic style!
At least, offer the possibility to remove it easily or make it customizable, please!

Than you

davidalman

So for simple, sensible, adjustments to our articles and blogs in Annotum it seems we have to pay. Not only that but start to learn HTML. The Custom CSS option.

I’ve asked Support Options why on transferred blogs (from Blogger) spacing between sentences cannot be made (they are shown in edit mode but crunch together on publishing). The answer – buy Custom CSS.

My conclusion out of all of this is that transferring articles and blogs into WordPress brings with it some special issues that remain unaddressed.

At this point in time I think I’m left with the option of cleaning all copies of Knols and blogs and reloading the lot from my computer along with associated images. I really don’t want to be turned into some quasi IT person. One way or other there’s days of work ahead just to get back to where things were in January (less of course Search Engine positioning).

Then we have Mito’s concerns over Annotum’s appearance. And I agree that the “author” line is ugly and looks like an unnecessary intrusion. For copyright purposes on articles I think referencing authors is appropriate so will have a look in the assets folder and consider turning off the “display” and typing in authorship by hand.

This remains a difficult transition and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of Annotum/WordPress and how best to use this site is still something to be worked through.

With other workload issues, it may take many months before I can get around to getting this Annotum site in order. Lots to understand.

davidalman

Carl,
The point is that Google chose, and recommended Annotum and in good faith I and I’m sure many others trusted that recommendation. So saying perhaps there may be a better site elsewhere or a Theme that offers what I seek I think is not helpful.

I don’t think it unreasonable for text that is shown in a consistent typeface in Google Knol to be reflected in the same condition in Annotum. But maybe not. I would expect it occurred as a result of uploading text into a Knol from Microsoft Word, and subsequent editing within the Knol and the difference not “cleaned” up on transfer. That and the problems over retaining images within the articles when typographic changes are made, in effect, means starting all over again by uploading directly from my computer. No matter where I go.

It’s this that I refer to about getting back to January in Google Knol. It’s all the work starting from scratch, uploading the lot, as if a transfer didn’t happen. Days of work.

Again, the standard conversion tool on Annotum was used to import Blogger blogs. All I seek is to “break a line”, so sentences that had a break between them in Blogger are similarly reflected in Annotum. I don’t know why I can’t, and again if it means going to Custom CSS the option seems to be to completely upload blog texts from the computer or deleting and placing a link to Blogger.

This issue, I think, raises a question over how to use Annotum: As a base to cross reference slides, blogs, and articles elsewhere, or as a collated publishing centre, or something in between. This is something I will have to work though after more time with Annotum, and my current issues are helping me firm up my views. As a straight upload of articles and blogs into Annotum, it may be quite resilient.

Then there is its position with search engines to be explored.

As for the Author line that Mito raises, your recommendation indicates I can loose it and replace it in a different way without moving to another Theme. That’s fine by me.

My concern with your response about looking at other websites and themes is that it continues to leave matters unresolved, worse. Starting over again and understanding differences those sites have. The plethora of themes WordPress offers simply makes it difficult to work out appearance issues with formatting capability. I really don’t want to add to my current task resulting from the closure of Google Knol in terms of getting the articles up online.

Mito

Thanks for the answer.
Sorry, I’m just getting started with wordpress and annotum.
I’m just taking a look to make a decision later, depending on the facility, advantage/disadvantage, support quality…etc.
By the way, since annotum is an open source, how to remove/modify the link “About Annotum” in the footer? This is especially for security concerns,as hackers that know which tool is used, they may exploit it.

Thanks

Dean

Hey, thanks for the howto steps.

Regards

andytgeezer

I’ve been using Annotum for a while and I think a recent update may have knocked formatting out a little. I’ve noticed that my paragraphs are no longer being published, so getting one long block of text. I’ve deactivated the theme and gone back to Twenty Twelve and all paragraphs are restored. Is t