Error in downloading PDF

madeleine.evazeiler · September 2, 2024

Hi everyone! I'm getting an error when I try to save the PDF version of an academic paper to my library. The error reads: "An error occurred while saving this item. Try again, and if the issue persists see Getting Help for more information." I can't find anything under "getting help." I would like the paper saved as a PDF so that I can annotate it within Zotero. Any thoughts?

dstillman · September 2, 2024

We always need an example URL for problems with saving.

madeleine.evazeiler · September 2, 2024

Here is the URL for the online version: https://www.jandonline.org/article/S2212-2672(17)30197-1/abstract (I accessed it through my institution) and here is the URL to the PDF version (https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/282025/[removed — D.S.]
Thanks!

dstillman · September 3, 2024

Are you running Zotero 6 or 7? If 6, start by updating to Zotero 7, which will show CAPTCHAs within the Zotero app for ScienceDirect PDF downloads. That may or may not help here, though, since this site is only sort of part of ScienceDirect.

We're working on some improvements to how Zotero downloads files that should improve PDF saving across Elsevier sites and other sites with aggressive anti-bot protections.