Drag 'n' Drop: Can the default Item Type be changed?

dag92821 · June 12, 2023

Greetings,

When I drag 'n' drop a file into Zotero (6.0.26) it gets imported as an "attachment". Is there a way to change the default type to a "Document"? Attachments do not have nearly the number of options/fields a document does and I need those additional fields.

TIA.

bwiernik · June 13, 2023

Right click on the item and choose Retrieve Metadata and if that fails, Create Parent Item. Metadata retrieval should be automatic—check the General panel in Zotero settings and be sure the box is checked

dag92821 · June 14, 2023

This works for well formed PDFs only. Any file of other types still result in attachments and non-properly formed PDFs generate bad data (e.g. I have a government policy which did generate a parent item but with the name "For Official Use Only". :) So in most of my cases, there is more work to do than just drag 'n' drop the resource. This is why I was hoping there may be a way to alter the "default" type when dragging files in.

Really, I just wanted to be able to provide data to the 'Extra' field, but attachments don' t have the "Extra" field.

adamsmith · June 14, 2023

No, there isn't and likely won't be. Creating a parent item is two extra clicks, so it's not a huge additional burden and in many cases (though I understand likely not for you) there's going to be an identifier that people can use rather than adding all info manually.