Manually deleting duplicate files in Zotero directory?

Tumble34165
Hello,

I'm in the process of organizing multiple file shares and cloud storage, and I've encountered a significant number of duplicate files. It appears that some of these duplicates have made their way into my Zotero PDF storage. I am using a duplicate file tool, TreeSize Pro by JAM Software, which has identified approximately 1.5GB of duplicate PDFs in my Zotero storage folder. I use WebDAV for storage and do not use linked attachments.

TreeSize Pro offers the option to delete a file and, if it's the only file in a directory, the empty directory as well. I've noticed that Zotero stores each PDF in its own randomly named directory.

If I delete a duplicate PDF and its parent directory outside of Zotero, will this cause any problems within the Zotero application? How can I get Zotero to recognize that these files have been deleted?

Thanks!
Zuser
  • AbeJellinek
    No, the associated Zotero attachments wouldn't be deleted; you just wouldn't be able to open them anymore. If you're using Zotero syncing, they'd be redownloaded automatically.

    Managing your Zotero storage folder from outside Zotero is generally a bad idea. Have you tried using Zotero's built-in Duplicate Items feature?
  • Tumble34165
    edited 3 days ago
    Oh yes, I didn't consider the re-sync. There are a lot of duplicates that are not being recognized because they're just sitting in Zotero as PDFs and have no parent item. These files are identical but are not recognized as duplicate items.


    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u10196535/9xpdebqxmc8bnjuxw1ko.png
  • chirila
    Duplicate items usually saves all the attachments, so it doesn't help to rationalize multiple copies of pdfs unless you then manually delete the second attachment copy
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