Zotero is not saving webpages when collecting sources using a browser. How do I fix this?

chrislatham

Hi,
I've reinstalled Zotero and the connector, reauthorized and upgraded my storage, and Zotero is still not saving. Can you help?

Chris

dstillman

1) You don't need to authorize anything in the Zotero Connector if you're saving to the Zotero app. That's for saving directly to your online library.

2) A Zotero Storage subscription has nothing to do with saving files locally, which is unlimited. (You need the storage subscription to sync your current amount of files between devices and back them up in the online library, though.)

3) Make sure Zotero is set to save snapshots in the General pane of the preferences.

4) You own two open public groups, which don't allow files. If you're saving to those, you won't get files. I'd guess this is all it is.

chrislatham

Thanks Dan.

1) Where is the General pane of preferences? Do I find this on the Zotero website?

2) How do I find out if I'm saving files to the open public groups?

For some reason, it just stopped saving yesterday, and I didn't make any changes, so I'm not sure what happened.

Chris

dstillman

No, this is all about the Zotero app. All that happened is that you selected one of the two open public groups in your Zotero app, and then when you clicked the save button the Zotero Connector defaulted to saving to there. You can just choose a different group from the drop-down of the save popup.

chrislatham

Thanks, but I'm not sure what you mean. Okay, I deleted the two public groups, and it's still not saving.

When I try to save from ncbi.nlm.nig.gov it says "saving to Zotero.org," and I don't get a drop-down list.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5729939/pdf/nihms914803.pdf

When I save directly from the journal, it saves to Zotero.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0049017217304699?via=ihub

Could this be what's happening?

dstillman

Oh, wait, you meant something different here. When you said "not saving webpages when collecting sources", I thought you were referring to the webpage snapshots that Zotero saves from some sites. That's why I was explaining that files don't save to open public libraries.

If all you mean is that it's not saving from PubMed Central, and PubMed Central alone, that's just because of an upstream issue they're having:

https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/100700/zotero-not-working-in-pubmed-central

Be sure to always include an example URL if you're referring to problems with a specific site.

dstillman

When I try to save from ncbi.nlm.nig.gov it says "saving to Zotero.org," and I don't get a drop-down list.

You're also still trying to save directly to the online library. When using Zotero, you always want to keep the Zotero app open so that the Zotero Connector saves to it, which will generally work better across the board. You only get the drop-down that lets you choose where to save when saving to the app.

chrislatham

Cna you tell me how I turn off saving to the online library? I accidentally turned that on I think while trying to find out what was wrong.

dstillman

Just open the Zotero app on your system. The Zotero Connector will always save to the Zotero app when it's open, and once it sees the Zotero app, it won't save directly to the online library until the next time it can't find the Zotero app and you explicitly tell it to save to the online library.

chrislatham

Okay, thank you!