Upgrade StorageSeeking Support: Automation between Zotero, Zotfile, and OneDrive
I'm a first year PhD student and currently establishing my systems for referencing, note-taking, and data-analysis for a qualitative research project.
I'm seeking support to help me work through my current system/workflow:
I use Zotero for referencing, and store PDFs and ebooks on OneDrive (Source Folder). I have added the Zotfile extension to rename and move processed (renamed and linked) files into a new OneDrive folder, however this isn't occurring.
I'd like to be able to create automations so that when I upload a new reference into the OneDrive source folder it is synced to automatically upload into Zotero moved into the new folder AND syncs to notion referencing system (I've installed Notero add-on).
I'd also like to advice on how to batch-process existing files to:
- create parent files for each reference and attach link/pdf/ebook as a childfile
- update meta-data OR search document for bibliographic data (this does not occur for each existing file).
Can anyone help? I'm happy to pay for a coaching session - I've spent literal days on youtube, forums, websites etc trying to tackle this on my own.
I'm seeking support to help me work through my current system/workflow:
I use Zotero for referencing, and store PDFs and ebooks on OneDrive (Source Folder). I have added the Zotfile extension to rename and move processed (renamed and linked) files into a new OneDrive folder, however this isn't occurring.
I'd like to be able to create automations so that when I upload a new reference into the OneDrive source folder it is synced to automatically upload into Zotero moved into the new folder AND syncs to notion referencing system (I've installed Notero add-on).
I'd also like to advice on how to batch-process existing files to:
- create parent files for each reference and attach link/pdf/ebook as a childfile
- update meta-data OR search document for bibliographic data (this does not occur for each existing file).
Can anyone help? I'm happy to pay for a coaching session - I've spent literal days on youtube, forums, websites etc trying to tackle this on my own.
If you already have PDFs in your Onedrive folder, you can use modifier-key* drag and drop them into Zotero, which will establish the file link to that folder. That has nothing to do with Zotfile.
https://www.zotero.org/support/attaching_files#adding_files_via_the_zotero_window
*"To ... add links to the original files, hold down Ctrl+Shift (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Option (Mac) while dropping."
Zotero will usually retrieve metadata (assuming the PDF has enough embedded information to do that) and create a parent for such files.
If you want to manually rename and move an existing PDF attachment, use right-click manage Attachments\Rename & Move (a Zotfile function).
There is no 'watch' folder in Zotero. So you can't automate the addition of new files added directly to your Onedrive folder from outside Zotero.
https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/watch_folder
The nearest thing is Zotfile's Source Folder for Attaching New Files. This is useful where you have an item in Zotero to which you wish to add a PDF (eg received by email, or could not be downloaded via the web connector so had to be saved manually). You save the PDF to that folder and then right-click Attach New File, which will offer to add the latest-dated PDF in that folder to your item.