Files in storage not in sqlite?

.meia
Hello,
Basically I'm an idiot and I've made quite a mess of my storage directory. This has resulted in quite a few files which *are* in the storage folder (in 8-digit folders), but don't show up in my library. My hypothesis is that they're not listed in zotero.sqlite (or perhaps storage.sqlite). Is there any way to solve this that doesn't involve painstakingly re-adding the files individually?
  • tim820
    edited today at 6:31am
    If you still have the parent items in your library - just without their original attachment - and when you try to open it, Zotero says it cannot find that known attachment file, then the Attachment Scanner plugin can identify and tag those items with missing attachments (#broken). But it is then up to you to fix them, eg by pointing each Zotero "can't find" dialog to the file.
    https://github.com/SciImage/zotero-attachment-scanner

    But since you say "My hypothesis is that they're not listed in zotero.sqlite" (where attachment locations are recorded), that suggests that the parent item might *not* have any attachment recorded at all. The Attachment Scanner can also tag items with no recorded attachment (#nosource).

    If the files in question under Zotero\storage have *no* parent item (nor exist as standalone PDF entries in Zotero), that's a harder problem. Because by definition Zotero has no knowledge of the item or such "orphaned" attachments. To help find the orphaned files, you would need to generate a list in your OS of all PDFs (and any other attachment file types) under Zotero\storage, and then compare that list to a list of all known Zotero attachments. The latter list can be generated as described here:
    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/440946/#Comment_440946

    If you know the 8-char folder name where a PDF is located, you can check if Zotero has any knowledge of that location by entering the folder name in quick search for "All Fields & Tags".

    Other suggestions to fix your problem might be more obvious if we knew *how* your library lost knowledge of some of its stored attachments.
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