Upgrade StorageFinished with a project and want to start a new library
I have finished a project that involved several gigs of materials. I'm now finished and would like to start on another. I don't need to have this older research on hand (or filling my storage, both online and on my computer), though I do want to keep it in archives.
What is the best move here? My thinking is I could export the library to a Dropbox folder, then delete everything in the Zotero app. Is this wise? What backup should I do? Is there another way?
What is the best move here? My thinking is I could export the library to a Dropbox folder, then delete everything in the Zotero app. Is this wise? What backup should I do? Is there another way?
Converting a group of items to have linked attachment files instead of stored files is one way of effectively archiving those attachment files, while keeping them accessible but not consuming your online Zotero file storage quota. Their collections/parent items can just be placed in a parent collection for that purpose (eg 'Archive'), with their linked attachments. If the linked attachment files are in a folder on Dropbox they will also be accessible from Zotero on other computers if necessary (but not in the web library or the mobile apps). Linked files are commonly managed with the help of Zotmoov or Attanger. Those plugins can move selected items' files in chunks to your designated linked-files folder (eg select and move all the 'A' titles, followed by the 'B's etc).
https://www.zotero.org/support/attaching_files#linked_files
If you are sure you will never need the item data again, but you want to keep the PDFs, then you could just export the PDFs to Dropbox and then delete all the items in Zotero.
Or to preserve data that could be re-imported to Zotero again if ever necessary, you could Export Library, to Dropbox including PDFs, in Zotero RDF format. It's not 100% lossless though.
Another alternative is multiple profiles, each with their own, completely separate library (although people sometimes find them fiddly to set up and manage). You choose which library you want to open before starting up Zotero. Neither profile should have its data folder in a cloud folder.
https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/multiple_profiles
https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/data_directory_in_cloud_storage_folder