[Feature Request] Zotero Android and Google Drive Support?

mtrg

Hello,

I don't have access to the Zotero Android beta nor have I found this information via Google, but does Zotero Android support using Google Drive the same way as on Zotero desktop?

adamsmith

No (it's unclear exactly what you are referring to, but there's absolutely no integration with Drive or other sync services in the beta)

mtrg

Ah, I'm referring to the ability to store attachments on a personal/external cloud service other than Zotero storage https://libguides.bc.edu/tml_zotero/cloud_storage

adamsmith

Yeah, no access to linked files on the mobile apps. Also very unlikely to happen in the future

mtrg

Is it more of a financial issue or more of a technical issue? Because if it's financial, considering the importance of Zotero, I think I'd strongly consider paying for storage once possible. However, if it's technical, then I think I'd try to contribute to the codebase to make the needed changes?

adamsmith

It's technical in the sense that Zotero devs don't think that this can be done in any satisfactory way given, e.g., the constraints on app access to file storage and the like (and they're unwilling to implement this individually for specific cloud services like GDrive, Dropbox, OneDrive etc. -- both on principled and on practical grounds), so I don't think contributing to the code base would affect that.

mtrg

I see... That's unfortunate. Do you know if the Apple version of the app also suffers from the same issue?

adamsmith

This is the same across mobile apps, yes.

mtrg

I found out about this project https://github.com/edbfer/zotero-android here https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/110870/android-possibility-of-external-storage -- Do you know if this is a way of using cloud storage with Zotero Mobile or is it more for... something like syncthing?

adamsmith

I don't know, but it's clearly unmaintained with no commits in the last 10 months, so you shouldn't use it (it's also in violation of the Zotero trademark FWIW)