@dstillman "we generally recommend just maintaining a single version as a group library rather than trying to keep multiple libraries in sync."
I'm working with a collaborator who should have access to the data directory library and attachments. As per your recommendation above I was thinking of shifting my whole library over to the group library and essentially use that as my individual library.
However, I prefer to use a relative path and linked attachments and I'd like to continue that mode of storage (not a $ issue; convenience of locating, copying, syncing library of files for an array of uses unrelated to Zotero). It's easy enough to share the relative path of files in my personal library with my collaborator (eg, with files on Google Drive) but this leaves the collaborator without access to both data directory and linked attachments. I can't seem to find a way to set that up. [I get an error message that group library items cannot have linked attachments.] Is there a workaround of any kind?
My second approach has been to establish an entirely different, second profile for work with collaborator and that account would use absolute paths and Zotero storage. A little sketchy for a novice but I set up an account with unlimited storage. In this instance, however, I can see no way to sync create a copy/clone of the data directory library between the two profiles. Indeed, that seems like a recipe for disaster.
Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.
I'm not totally sure I follow. What's the purpose of the second profile? If you're using Zotero Storage in the group anyway, why wouldn't that just be a group in your main profile, and then you'd at least have the option of dragging items between your (truly) personal library and the group library you share with your collaborator?
That part aside, though, really the main thing I could suggest would be to reconsider the use of linked files, since those indeed cannot be used in groups. Depends exactly what you need, but, for example, an OS smart folder can get you a flat list of all PDFs in Zotero, they should still show up in OS searches, you can drag files straight out of Zotero for various purposes, etc. You've probably seen Stored Files and Linked Files, but if not make sure you read through that just so you're clear on the possibilities and trade-offs.
In any case, we're currently working on better cross-library copying, so some of the problems of maintaining the same items in different libraries might be less of an issue soon.
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I'm working with a collaborator who should have access to the data directory library and attachments. As per your recommendation above I was thinking of shifting my whole library over to the group library and essentially use that as my individual library.
However, I prefer to use a relative path and linked attachments and I'd like to continue that mode of storage (not a $ issue; convenience of locating, copying, syncing library of files for an array of uses unrelated to Zotero). It's easy enough to share the relative path of files in my personal library with my collaborator (eg, with files on Google Drive) but this leaves the collaborator without access to both data directory and linked attachments. I can't seem to find a way to set that up. [I get an error message that group library items cannot have linked attachments.] Is there a workaround of any kind?
My second approach has been to establish an entirely different, second profile for work with collaborator and that account would use absolute paths and Zotero storage. A little sketchy for a novice but I set up an account with unlimited storage.
In this instance, however, I can see no way to sync create a copy/clone of the data directory library between the two profiles. Indeed, that seems like a recipe for disaster.
Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.
That part aside, though, really the main thing I could suggest would be to reconsider the use of linked files, since those indeed cannot be used in groups. Depends exactly what you need, but, for example, an OS smart folder can get you a flat list of all PDFs in Zotero, they should still show up in OS searches, you can drag files straight out of Zotero for various purposes, etc. You've probably seen Stored Files and Linked Files, but if not make sure you read through that just so you're clear on the possibilities and trade-offs.
In any case, we're currently working on better cross-library copying, so some of the problems of maintaining the same items in different libraries might be less of an issue soon.