Zotero Connector doesn't download PDF - Zotero 7

lil.sipsi · 2025-06-17T03:53:35+00:00

Hello forum,

I have Zotero Connector and am trying to save a reference from PubMed. Zotero Connector could save the reference, but did not download the available PDF.

I found on the forum here https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/111981/zotero-connector-doesnt-download-pdf-file , when someone had the same problem. It seems that I have to turn on the saving PDF as preference, but I cannot find such preference in Zotero 7. Could someone kindly advise?

Thanks a lot!

dstillman · 2025-06-17T04:01:52+00:00

Can you provide an example URL? PubMed doesn't have PDFs. Do you mean PubMed Central?

lil.sipsi · 2025-06-17T04:02:45+00:00

Hi,

yes sorry, I meant PubMed Central. Here's the link: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9465614/

Thanks for your help ~

dstillman · 2025-06-17T04:08:01+00:00

I'm not sure if this is new, but it looks like there's an intermediate page the first time you try to download a PDF from PMC in a session. Click through to the PDF once, wait for the loading page to go away, and then once you're at the PDF, click back to the article page. Saving should then work normally.

If you're not seeing that, provide a Debug ID from Zotero for reloading the page and trying to save in the browser.

lil.sipsi · 2025-06-17T04:28:00+00:00

Hi dstillman,

Yes, it worked! Thank you for your kind and speedy help.

Do I understand correctly, that in order for Zotero Connector to download the PDF at the same time (for other sites), I'll always have to click through to the PDF page before saving the reference?

Cheers ~

dstillman · 2025-06-17T04:33:35+00:00

No, this is likely just some weird bot protection thing on PMC. It's possible we can circumvent it, but it's not a normal thing you'd have to do when using Zotero.

(One similar exception is JSTOR, where you have to click through and accept terms and conditions once before saving normally, but that itself is unique.)