Unable to find all IEEE PDFs

ziyangS

I can import the information of essays into Zotero. However, both zotero connector and Zotero itself cannot find the PDF file.

I'm using Safari and proxies.
Debug ID: D259841440

Thank you for your support.

dstillman

It's not totally clear what you mean here.

This Debug ID appears to be for Find Available PDF, but that would only be able to download a PDF if you have direct or VPN-based access to IEEE PDFs. Otherwise it would only find open-access PDFs.

If you use a web-based proxy, you should be able to save from the article page using the Zotero Connector for Safari. If that's not downloading a PDF that you have access to on the page, we'd want to see a Debug ID from Zotero for that.

ziyangS

Well received. Let me explain this in detail.
My purpose is to include both data and pdf file of one essay into my Zotero library. I tried to use two ways to do this. The first method is to use Zotero Connector while opening the essay in my browser. The second method is to right click the information of the essay in Zotero and Find Available PDF. I tried both methods on my macbook and they both won't work.

I tried these two methods on my Windows 11 desktop PC. Zotero Connector works fine while Find Available PDF fails.

I enabled Debug Logging of Zotero and use Zotero Connector on Safari.
Debug ID: D893741035

adamsmith

Right -- as dstillman says above, that's expected unless you're on the IP range through which you have access to IEEEXplore (web proxy access wouldn't work)

ziyangS

Thank you for your kind reply. One more question, what do you mean by saying 'web proxy access wouldn't work'? Does that mean that, even I have access to IEEEXplore and can download pdf by clicking on the download button myself, zotero connector still cannot download the pdf for me? Are there any suggestions for me to solve this issue? Thanks.

adamsmith

No, the connector should download the PDF if you have access to it. You say "Zotero Connector works fine" -- I interpreted that as saying that importing via the browser connector gets you the PDF. If it doesn't, that's what we want to troubleshoot.

On the other hand, "Find Available PDF" will *not* necessarily work, even if you have access via the browser.

ziyangS

Sorry about my terrible expression. The thing is, I tested Zotero on two OS: Windows 11 and macOS, using Microsoft Edge and Safari separately. Zotero Connector works fine on Windows 11+Edge, but fails to download pdf on Safari. And the Debug ID is D893741035. Thanks.

dstillman

We can check this example specifically, but unfortunately the Zotero Connectoro for Safari will be a bit worse at downloading PDFs on some sites. Mentioned as a limitation here:

https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/safari_compatibility#limitations

brainkimstudio

I experienced the same problem.

We have a direct access to IEEE and are able to download PDF from their website.

For example, we can download PDF file from here
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/293383
But, if I use 'Find Available PDF' within zotero, it fails.

Solution: I just exited the zotero and started it again. Then, it just download PDF file successfully this time.

The possible explanation is that some of bugs from other part of zotero messed up and it accidently affect the download PDF feature. So, just shut it down and try again.