Where to store my PDFs: how to choose location of Zotero library (new user)

Roy_Ashton

Hi,
I'm new to Zotero, and have been dragging PDFs into the desktop app, but with less than 20 files, the app is telling me my free storage space of 300MB is full. I don't have the budget to buy more storage from Zotero but I think it must be possible to store my Zotero library on my laptop and/or in the vast cloud space my university offers to students. However, I don't know how to do this.
1) Can someone take me through the steps? I've looked through all the settings in the app and can't seem to find how to choose where Zotero stores its library of files and my associated notes/annotations.

2) In fact, I've already created my own 'library' of PDFs (books and articles) on my own computer hard drive. Is it possible to get Zotero to use my existing library of folders of PDFs? How would I tell it to do so?

Thank you!

dstillman

You're aware that the storage quota is solely for file syncing? If you just want to use Zotero on your computer, you don't have to do anything else. You can disable file syncing in the Sync pane of the preferences if you want to stop getting the error.

If you actually do want to sync files, see Stored Files and Linked Files. Using linked files is an advanced configuration, and not something we can help with.

2) In fact, I've already created my own 'library' of PDFs (books and articles) on my own computer hard drive. Is it possible to get Zotero to use my existing library of folders of PDFs? How would I tell it to do so?

The "Folder Import" plugin can import an existing hierarchy of files. (This will also be possible in the next major version of Zotero.) You can also of course just do a search for all PDFs under that folder and drag them into Zotero. See Retrieve PDF Metadata to understand what happens when you do that.