Upgrade StorageSetting up Zotero storage in a folder already full of PDFs and eBooks
Hello community,
In setting up Zotero on my computer
1. I want all the files to park in a folder on my cloud/computer – not use the Zotero cloud.
2. I would want the designated Zotero storage folder to be the same as an existing folder I already have, which is already full of PDFs and eBooks.
3. I would want Zotero to recognize all that is already in my folder, and just add new files into it as I go along. In other words, avoid duplicates.
Does anyone know how?
In setting up Zotero on my computer
1. I want all the files to park in a folder on my cloud/computer – not use the Zotero cloud.
2. I would want the designated Zotero storage folder to be the same as an existing folder I already have, which is already full of PDFs and eBooks.
3. I would want Zotero to recognize all that is already in my folder, and just add new files into it as I go along. In other words, avoid duplicates.
Does anyone know how?
https://www.zotero.org/support/attaching_files#linked_files
To add PDFs from an existing folder as linked files, you can drag and drop them into Zotero (drop them *between* existing items, not on an item, or they will be added to that item only) ...
https://www.zotero.org/support/attaching_files#adding_files
As it says at the above link, to make sure they are added as *linked* files, not copied into local Zotero\storage, do this ...
"hold down Ctrl+Shift (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Option (Mac) while dropping"
Zotero will attempt to automatically extract metadata from each PDF, to create a parent item for each, and populate the right info pane with that data (it takes a little time to do that). If not, the PDF will be left as an unattached PDF, for which you create a (right-click) parent item later (and look for metadata elsewhere).
It's best to do all this in small chunks, and keep close track of which files have been added and which are yet to be done.
So that future downloads via the Zotero Web Connector are added *automatically* to your cloud folder as linked files, most people use the Zotfile plugin (with Custom Location set to that folder). You can rename/move single PDFs that were in local Zotero storage with its right-click Manage Attachments\Rename and Move.
If you want to access the linked PDFs from Zotero on another computer (ie you have data syncing ON but file syncing OFF), and the cloud folder has a *different* path on that computer, you can set a Linked Attachment Base Directory on each computer so that Zotero knows where to look for the linked PDFs.
Regarding duplicates, Zotero can detect duplicates once they are (both) in Zotero (it shows them in the Duplicate Items collection). But it currently has no way to detect that something you are about to download via the Web Connector in your browser (or drag and drop) is already in your library.
If you wish to delete a linked PDF from your cloud folder, use the delitem plugin (as Zotero does not delete linked files).
https://github.com/redleafnew/delitemwithatt