PDFs missing from select citations in my library

jcream07 · 2025-02-11T03:24:33+00:00

I recently downloaded Zotero desktop and noticed that not all of my citations I had PDFs for on my last laptop are available. I am not sure why some synced and some didn't and how some disappeared from my library on the web. Any way to retrieve the missing PDFs? Some of them had annotations and I would like to have access to those still.

dstillman · 2025-02-11T03:28:55+00:00

See Files Not Syncing.

Nothing would've disappeared from the online library. It looks like nearly all your recent files are available, but some from before mid-2023, when you added a storage plan, aren't. That just means you never synced those files from the computer where you added them after upgrading your storage.

daniel.r · 2025-02-11T07:47:14+00:00

Is the user warned somehow when there are unsynced files? If not, maybe there could be some exclamation mark on the sync button with further information in a tool-tip on hover?

dstillman · 2025-02-11T08:15:14+00:00

Yes, sync errors — including quota warnings — show an error icon in the toolbar that you can click on for more info. If you turn off file syncing in the settings (e.g., if you're at your storage quota, don't plan to upgrade, and don't want it to keep warning you), it no longer warns you.

We plan to show a more prominent (dismissable) banner for both of those situations, though, similar to what we already do when syncing isn't set up or auto-sync is disabled.