It's a very useful feature to be able to share the URL (or some kind of identifier) to a PDF file stored in Zotero among the members of the same Group on Zotero.
You can just select the attachment in the web library and then copy the zotero.org URL from your browser address bar. Anyone in the group will be able to access it and then open the PDF from there.
You just can't share the files.zotero.net URL after viewing the file, since that's a temporary URL.
In a future version, we'll be making it possible to share a web library URL right from the desktop app.
Is it possible to share a link to the pdf of a paper from zotero such that anyone can open/download it?
With Mendeley, it was easy to store the pdfs in a dropbox folder, and share links to individual papers directly. But I'm intimidated by the folder structure of Zotero and haven't dared try to move it to Dropbox
If the person is not a member of your Zotero group(s) (which contains the PDF), you could make a copy of the PDF (finding it first via right-click Show File) to a cloud folder and then share the cloud service's file link.
Or if you use a cloud service to store a copy of your entire data folder for backup purposes, you could share PDF links from there instead.
In a "linked" PDF attachments setup (where linked PDFs [only] *can* be in a cloud folder) you can share a cloud PDF file link directly; for example from a single cloud folder that contains multiple PDFs (all your PDFs or just a subset). That can be important in a teaching environment, or similar cases where PDF distribution is common. But linked PDF files have significant other restrictions - they don't work in Groups, the web library, nor the mobile apps. https://www.zotero.org/support/attaching_files#linked_files
Note that in all those scenarios the PDF won't contain any annotations made in the Zotero reader, as those are stored in its database (but can be exported).
Thanks for the reply! This is the one downside of Zotero compared to Mendeley that I've experienced. Each of the work-arounds seem a bit clunky. It would be really great to be able to right click and share a link to an attachment directly, especially if I'm paying for Zotero storage,
As I say above, in a future version, we'll be making it possible to share a web library URL right from the desktop app, which will allow you to quickly share links to synced files with anyone in your group. But if you're asking for the ability to share files publicly without any sort of login, that's not something we have any plans to support — we'd rather not spend all our time dealing with takedown requests and abuse.
@dstillman this would be an incredibly helpful feature for our lab. Currently we are at an impasse upgrading to Zotero 7 because Zutilo is not updated to the latest version and if we upgrade we loose this feature. Do you have a sense of when this may be offered?
I worked with Chat GPT to modify this code to allow copying the Zotero Web Library URI link that was possible with Zutilo on Zotero 6. Here are instructions on how I set up the plug in for this on my computer.
Download the latest version of Actions and Tags from Release Release v2.0.5 · windingwind/zotero-actions-tags · GitHub
Go to Tools > Plug ins > Click the settings cog > Install Plugin from file > Select the Actions and Tags.xpi file you downloaded
Go to Edit > Settings > Actions and Tags then hit the “plus” button to add an action
Name = Copy Web Library URI
Event = None
Operation = Script
Data =
// Check if the selected item is valid
if (!item) return "No item selected.";
// Determine the library type (user or group)
let library = item.library;
let libraryType = library.libraryType; // 'user' or 'group'
let libraryID = library.libraryID; // Library ID
let itemKey = item.key; // Unique key for the item
const clipboard = new Zotero.ActionsTags.api.utils.ClipboardHelper();
clipboard.addText(webUri, "text/unicode");
clipboard.copy();
// Return the URI as a confirmation
return `Web Library URI copied to clipboard:\n${webUri}`;
Shortcut = / (Just press this key, it isn’t related to any other command in the interface, but you can use another key if you would like)
Menu label = Copy Web Library URI
Select all checkboxes for where to place the Menu item
Enabled is checked
Hit “Save”
Say “Okay” in the dialogue box
To test, select an entry and press “/” or whatever shortcut you chose. You can also right click and select Trigger action > Copy Web Library URI. In either case you should be able to paste the link in your browser window and be led to the desired file.
Upgrade Storage
You just can't share the files.zotero.net URL after viewing the file, since that's a temporary URL.
In a future version, we'll be making it possible to share a web library URL right from the desktop app.
With Mendeley, it was easy to store the pdfs in a dropbox folder, and share links to individual papers directly. But I'm intimidated by the folder structure of Zotero and haven't dared try to move it to Dropbox
https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/data_directory_in_cloud_storage_folder
If the person is not a member of your Zotero group(s) (which contains the PDF), you could make a copy of the PDF (finding it first via right-click Show File) to a cloud folder and then share the cloud service's file link.
Or if you use a cloud service to store a copy of your entire data folder for backup purposes, you could share PDF links from there instead.
In a "linked" PDF attachments setup (where linked PDFs [only] *can* be in a cloud folder) you can share a cloud PDF file link directly; for example from a single cloud folder that contains multiple PDFs (all your PDFs or just a subset). That can be important in a teaching environment, or similar cases where PDF distribution is common. But linked PDF files have significant other restrictions - they don't work in Groups, the web library, nor the mobile apps.
https://www.zotero.org/support/attaching_files#linked_files
Note that in all those scenarios the PDF won't contain any annotations made in the Zotero reader, as those are stored in its database (but can be exported).
Download the latest version of Actions and Tags from Release Release v2.0.5 · windingwind/zotero-actions-tags · GitHub
Go to Tools > Plug ins > Click the settings cog > Install Plugin from file > Select the Actions and Tags.xpi file you downloaded
Go to Edit > Settings > Actions and Tags then hit the “plus” button to add an action
Name = Copy Web Library URI
Event = None
Operation = Script
Data =
// Check if the selected item is valid
if (!item) return "No item selected.";
// Determine the library type (user or group)
let library = item.library;
let libraryType = library.libraryType; // 'user' or 'group'
let libraryID = library.libraryID; // Library ID
let itemKey = item.key; // Unique key for the item
// Construct the Zotero Web Library URI
let webUri;
if (libraryType === "user") {
webUri = `https://www.zotero.org/users/${libraryID}/items/${itemKey}`;
} else if (libraryType === "group") {
let groupID = Zotero.Libraries.get(libraryID).groupID; // Group ID
webUri = `https://www.zotero.org/groups/${groupID}/items/${itemKey}`;
} else {
return "Unsupported library type.";
}
// Use clipboard helper to copy plain text (URI)
const clipboard = new Zotero.ActionsTags.api.utils.ClipboardHelper();
clipboard.addText(webUri, "text/unicode");
clipboard.copy();
// Return the URI as a confirmation
return `Web Library URI copied to clipboard:\n${webUri}`;
Shortcut = / (Just press this key, it isn’t related to any other command in the interface, but you can use another key if you would like)
Menu label = Copy Web Library URI
Select all checkboxes for where to place the Menu item
Enabled is checked
Hit “Save”
Say “Okay” in the dialogue box
To test, select an entry and press “/” or whatever shortcut you chose. You can also right click and select Trigger action > Copy Web Library URI. In either case you should be able to paste the link in your browser window and be led to the desired file.