Changed Linked Attachments Base Directory to Dropbox folder but Zotero doesn't relink attachments

eloysa.zelada

Hi,

So I moved all my storage from zotero/storage/ to a dropbox folder to free up my storage space. I changed the absolute path to relative path indicating the base directory as my desired dropbox folder. All my attachments in Zotero are now unlinked and when I try to open an attachment it says: "The attached file could not be found at the following path:/Users/eloysazelada/Zotero/storage/BFET4N2X/01_Wolek - Accessibility.pdf" indicating me the old storage path.
If I click on locate and I select the file in my new dropbox storage Zotero creates a copy of the file in the old zotero/storage file, even though I changed the base directory.
I also set up ZotFile "Location Files" to the dropbox folder and this is still not working.
What can I do to have zotero automatically relink all the files from that new directory path and stop creating copies of files in the old zotero/storage?

thanks for the help!

Best,

Eloysa

adamsmith

First, note that the linked file option is in the advanced tab of the preferences for a reason. It's very much possible to set up and work with linked files, but it is more error prone, especially without a clear understanding of how stored and linked files in Zotero work (but also more generally), so do consider if this is really what you want to do.

1. Start by moving your storage folder back to the Zotero. You should essentially never touch the inside of your data folder from your file system (other than to make back-ups, which ideally would also be done by a tool). You can leave you linked base directory settings as you have them now.

2. Then, set Zotfile's custom location to your Dropbox folder.

3. Now, select all your items and select Manage Attachments --> Rename files. You should now see all files in Zotero appearing with a small chain-link icon and moved into the Dropbox folder

4. Now, any PDF file that gets attached automatically by Zotero (e.g. when you import from a website) will get moved to Dropbox automatically, but note that PDFs that you drag to Zotero from your file system, even when Zotero finds metadata for them, need to get moved manually using the Rename files option you used under 3.

tim820

When changing to linked attachment files, you actually have to ask Zotfile to *move* the attachment PDF files to your Custom Location. Use right-click Manage Attachments\Rename and Move. If you have a lot of files to move, select their items in small chunks eg all the A's, then the B's etc. Note that Zotfile will also apply the file renaming rule you have set for it, which is what most people want (otherwise you can set 'Use Zotero to Rename' in Zotfile preferences).

Zotero's Linked Attachment Base Directory setting only tells Zotero where to *look* for linked files. It doesn't move them there. And you only really need to set the LABD if you are using two or more computers and the linked files are at a *different* base path location on each. If you don't set LABD, the direct path to the PDF file is stored in the Zotero database for each linked file.
https://www.zotero.org/support/preferences/advanced

eloysa.zelada

great, this solved my issue! Thank you so much for the help!