Zotero suddenly not able to download PDFs

inspiredlight

Hi there,

After restarting my computer, and therefore my browser and the Zotero application (macOS), Zotero suddenly can't obtain the PDF files from journal articles it would normally have no issue with. Prior to the restart (just minutes before) I was happily downloading articles with their attached PDF as per normal.

For example, this article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026974912200690X

It has a perfectly accessible PDF file. I can access it manually by simply clicking the appropriate link in the above-mentioned page. Yet Zotero doesn't download the PDF. I get this:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u375021/xvbkeb7jkax2b6eaz55c.jpg

The same thing is occurring on the other 10 or so publications I've tried to save to Zot since this issue started occurring.

Sometimes it does download the PDF, but I get another error I've not seen before:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u375021/i1uyeffnjhs0vn3ptzsy.png
Which occurred on this page, for example: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26374931/


I have restarted Zotero, and the browser, but the issue persists.

Currently running Zotero v7.0.7 on macOS.

Thanks ...

dstillman

Are these all on ScienceDirect? That's all the same — Elsevier employs some pretty rigorous anti-bot protections. Zotero 7 should show a CAPTCHA window that restores your access, but that won't always work, particularly if you try to download too many files at once. We're working on changing how Zotero downloads files to avoid problems like this.

If you're having trouble on non-SD sites, we'd want to see a Debug ID from Zotero for reloading the page, trying to save, and having a PDF fail to save.

inspiredlight

Thanks for your response. Yes, I have encountered the anti-bot stuff on ScienceDirect, and have had the CAPTCHA window pop up in the past.

In this instance, the paper was on PubMed, here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35580711/
It is a paper that's ultimately pulled through from SD. If I go to the SD link (given in my original message), it also fails to download there. And I get no pop-up CAPTCHA.

I know PubMed is a mixed bag when it comes to PDF downloads, as it depends on the availability of the full text PDF from the journal the article was actually published in, etc.

Here is another example: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35597519/

That is a listing of an article found here: https://www.aaojournal.org/article/S0161-6420(22)00361-X/fulltext

The full-text PDF is freely available on that article.

As far as I recall, normally if I download an article like that one, from its PubMed listing, Zotero will automagically get the PDF, presumably from the underlying source journal. I don't typically have to manually browse to that underlying source article, and then save to Zotero from there. Or am I mistaken in thinking that?

I'll get back to you with the Debug ID.