How can I free some storage space?

LucaBucci

My Zotero file storage is full (300 MB), and I think the problem is that it is saving (almost) all the pdfs of each citation. Is there a way to remove the files but keep the reference, so to free some space? Without emptying some space all new citations will be unlinked from Zotero.

Thanks a lot in advance!
Luca.

adamsmith

This refers just to online storage of attachments. No need to remove the files -- you can just disable file sync in the Zotero preferences.

LucaBucci

Thanks for the answer. However, this alone was not working. It only worked after also disabling "Automatically attach associated PDFs and other files when saving items" in the General preferences, that I didn't notice at the beginning.

Thanks a lot again.
Luca.

adamsmith

Those are two different things, though: the PDF files stored locally and saved with all items do not count against your storage quota unless you have file sync enabled. If you find them useful to have locally (as most people do), I'd recommend leaving that preference enabled.

LucaBucci

Ok, I will try to leave it enables, so. Thanks.

Zorozero

Luca I regularly remove PDFs despite having large storage volumina.

The procedure for dealing (removing) with PDFs is the following.

Part I: Decide if you want to retrieve PDFs in first place when adding new items. If you don't want the provided PDFs, deselect [ ] Automatically attach associated PDFs and other files when saving items in Preferences->General->File Handling section

Part II: If you want to remove PDFs from Zotero from within the app, do the following.

Step 1: Create a advanced filter using "Advanced Search" and Match all "Attachment File Type" is PDF. You will see a list of items highlighting the PDFs only, not the parent item (article, book, etc.). You cannot delete inside of the search window, you must "Save Search" (as a filter)

Step 2) Go into the main window of Zotero app. Find the filter on the side in the lower bottom, near Trash.

Step 3) Select the filter, which re-produces the same results as the filter window did. There, select all and delete (DEL). This will move the attachments only to Trash.

Step 4) Check Trash to be sure everything is Ok. Check your list of items once again, that the main item is still available, but the attachment was remove

Step 5) Finally, empty the Trash

WARNING: Try with one example first, before running through all your library.