Upgrade StorageZotero file storage sync issue
Hi, Really enjoying using Zotero.
I have a somewhat strange issue. My data seems to be syncing in Zotero just fine. I can find each reference and see the various items (such as PDFs) attached to each reference. However, I can only open about half of my attached PDFs from the Zotero website. Some contain only a link (something like "Curtis and Herrington - 2003 - Writing Development.PDF") which when clicked does not actually open up a PDF file; instead it just links to a separate Zotero page. Other citations synced to Zotero have an attachment that looks like this "Bauer and Garcia - 2002 - Lessons from a Classroom.PDF (pdf, 139k)." The part in parentheses, in my example the (pdf, 139k) bit, contains the actual PDF. When I click in on the part in parentheses the PDF opens.
My question: Why, in the Zotero cloud storage, are only some of my PDFs accessible, while others are inaccessible?
I have a somewhat strange issue. My data seems to be syncing in Zotero just fine. I can find each reference and see the various items (such as PDFs) attached to each reference. However, I can only open about half of my attached PDFs from the Zotero website. Some contain only a link (something like "Curtis and Herrington - 2003 - Writing Development.PDF") which when clicked does not actually open up a PDF file; instead it just links to a separate Zotero page. Other citations synced to Zotero have an attachment that looks like this "Bauer and Garcia - 2002 - Lessons from a Classroom.PDF (pdf, 139k)." The part in parentheses, in my example the (pdf, 139k) bit, contains the actual PDF. When I click in on the part in parentheses the PDF opens.
My question: Why, in the Zotero cloud storage, are only some of my PDFs accessible, while others are inaccessible?
Did these all come from the same computer? One way this could happen is if you work from multiple computers and don't have the sync files box checked on all of them.
To answer Dan's question:
No progress bar and no spinning, despite the fact that not all PDFs have been uploaded. Perhaps Zotero thinks all the files have been uploaded even though they are not. Again, some of my PDFs uploaded to my Zotero.org log-in; others have not. If you have the ability to look at my library the PDF associated with the Diederich "How to Measure Growth in Writing Ability" citation did not upload. Zotero knows there is an attachment but it doesn't actually have a copy of the attachment itself. Again, it seems as if half of my citation associated PDFs uploaded and half did not. The status bar only spins briefly when I add new individual articles. (By the way, the last three PDFs I added to new citations uploaded fine; however, many PDFs I added several days ago have not uploaded and I'm beginning to doubt they ever will unless I trouble-shoot the issue.)
More (perhaps relevant info):
In case it is relevant, I reset the Zotero sync using the "Restore TO Zotero Storage" option because the syncing was generating error messages. I do not remember if I had an issue with some PDFs not uploading before resetting the sync (I didn't check my Zotero cloud library that closely).
Any ideas you have on how to ensure all my PDFs will upload to Zotero Storage would be much appreciated.
Finally, it is worth noting that the PDFs (the ones that have failed to upload to Zotero.org) work fine in my local version of Zotero. Also, right now, I only use Zotero and connect to Zotero.org on one computer.
Again, thanks for your time and any ideas.
If you dragged and dropped the files onto the Zotero items, then that should be equivalent to the former. The latter is mainly useful if you need the files to be in a more convenient place than the rabbit-hole of Zotero's storage directory, or if the files are large and you don't want them to sync.
That is a good idea, although I have always used the "Attach stored copy of a file..." option (under the "Add Attachment" right-click selection).
I just fooled around with it some more. I tried dragging-and-dropping and "Attached stored copy of a file..." Both are now syncing the PDFs to Zotero.org.
However, the system still seems to have glitches. For example, whenever I delete a citation attachment (say a snapshot), Zotero.org (even when the sycning appears to be complete) does not reflect that deletion. I have a bunch of citations in Zotero that only have two attachments but show up in Zotero.org as having four attachments.
To be more specific... I just recently deleted a PDF attachment to an existing citation and then re-added the PDF. After the sync arrow spins and stops, Zotero.org shows two attachments in my on-line/cloud library (even though there is only one attachment in my computer's Zotero library.) So there seems to be issues with the sync updating deletions.
Other (admittedly, minor) glitches. The date modified rarely changes in Zotero.org, even after adding and deleting various associated attachments. And finally, why is the Zotero.org interface so stripped down. There is no way to sort citations by author name or article title or year of publication.
This all brings me to my broader point: I'd like to use Zotero's cloud storage and am happy to pay for it, but it needs to be reliable (and in a perfect world, it would be easier to search as well). Right now, I'm kind of on the fence about reliability.
Am I doing something wrong? Is Zotero storage working seamlessly (without glitches) for other people? If so, how can I make Zotero sync reliably reflect the changes I make to my local Zotero library?
I realize my question is a tall order... even small suggestions/hints would be appreciated.
Do you know of anyway to search/sort the Zotero.org library by author name or publication date?
Also, any idea what is going on with the "date added" and "date modified?" One observation and one wish....
Observation: The "date modified" doesn't seem to work reliably (although maybe it has for others?). Any thoughts/ideas?
Wish: What time zone are you guys in? Must everyone who uses Zotero be in the same time zone :) A way to have the "dated added" and "date modified" reflect other time zones (California, please) would be a nice addition.