Is it possible to make Zotero keep all area / image annotations on my local drive?

edited September 29, 2023
I would like my library/cache folder to contain all image annotations at all times, rather than downloading the images on demand when I open the item in Zotero's reader.

I tried looking at the config editor, but there were too many preferences related to image or media cache for me to figure it out.

The reason I want all the images present locally is that I'm importing annotations into the Obsidian note application using the Zotero Integration plugin. And, the plugin looks for the associated image annotations in the library/cache folder, but if it's been a while since I've opened the item, the images are not present and so the imported annotations will be incomplete.

I am on version: 6.0.27
  • edited September 29, 2023
    Images for image annotations are generated and cached locally. They're not synced, and I don't believe they're currently ever purged as long as the annotation exists.

    Zotero currently won't generate images for those on a given computer until you open the PDF in the reader or use Add Note from Annotations. It would be possible for the Obsidian integration plugin to trigger generation itself, but since this doesn't come up in regular Zotero usage, it's not really something for us to address.
  • edited September 29, 2023
    @dstillman Okay, I see. So I suppose the situation I've encountered here is PDFs that I've annotated in the iPadOS Zotero app, but not yet opened in Zotero on my desktop PC?

    Would that be a plausible explanation for why the images in question first appear in the cache folder when I open the PDF in Zotero's reader on my PC?
  • Yes, that's right.
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