Drag and Drop attachment issue

raychiangce · 2026-08-24T15:23:42+00:00

Hi,
I cannot drag and drop the attachment of the article from the middle panel to Windows Explorer and it shows an "unspecified error". However, I clicked "Show file" for the attachment and dragged and dropped it from the storage path into Windows Explorer without a problem. Would anyone know how to fix it?

Thank you
Ray

dstillman · 2026-08-24T15:27:44+00:00

Can you provide a Debug ID for reproducing this?

raychiangce · 2026-08-24T16:01:17+00:00

I reproduced it, and the debug ID is D189481904

dstillman · 2026-08-24T16:02:26+00:00

That's not a valid Debug ID. Can you try again? Be sure to copy and paste — don't try to retype.

dstillman · 2026-08-24T16:03:26+00:00

@raychiangce: Never mind — I was able to find the report.

raychiangce · 2026-08-24T16:06:22+00:00

D2082601312

dstillman · 2026-08-24T17:48:24+00:00

Is this a new problem?

Can you reproduce this in Troubleshooting Mode (Help → "Restart in Troubleshooting Mode…”), which temporarily disables all plugins?

Are you dropping on a regular folder or some sort of network share or cloud storage drive?

Is Zotero set to run as Administrator? (It shouldn't be.)

raychiangce · 2026-08-25T02:58:08+00:00

Yes, I updated version 10, and system prompt up cannot load styles (something like that). I followed the other KB to reset the styles, and then this problem occur.

I reproduced and resubmitted it.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u10632842/73ft1xhp2ptoay0y4o64.png

I am dropping the attachment on a regular folder (e.g. downloads) of Windows.

I have tried to run as administrator but same result.

raychiangce · 2026-08-25T03:08:09+00:00

I remembered that I clicked "reset translators" for solving loading styles issue.

dstillman · 2026-08-25T03:12:13+00:00

Is G: an external disk, network share, or cloud storage folder?

raychiangce · 2026-08-25T03:14:17+00:00

G: is network drive. I tried to copy in local drive, but same issue.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u10632842/l3zssyewxuxnl7bvw9hs.png

dstillman · 2026-08-25T03:20:47+00:00

(Please just post ids as text — that's what the "Copy to Clipboard" button is for.)

Can you confirm that Zotero is still not set to run as Administrator? (Again, I said it shouldn't be — you didn't need to go test with it enabled, which just risks breaking things later.)

What's the exact "unspecified error" you're seeing? Can you take a screenshot?

Have you tried dropping into another app (e.g., Word or an email compose window)?

raychiangce · 2026-08-25T03:35:14+00:00

I renamed existing zotero folder, and reset into factory default, but same issue. Is it verison 10 issue?
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u10632842/2itasl4d6pp9mnew0uhh.png

dstillman · 2026-08-25T03:38:06+00:00

If you’re not going to read my messages, I’m not going to spend more time trying to help you.

raychiangce · 2026-08-25T03:57:55+00:00

Sorry, my browser refresh issue, so I have overlooked your last message.

I have not set to run as administrator.

What's the exact "unspecified error" you're seeing? Can you take a screenshot?
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u10632842/72izmlfgjkstp5gjcetg.png

Have you tried dropping into another app (e.g., Word or an email compose window)?
showing a few text when I dropped the pdf attachment on word, but I can drop the attachment into gmail compose windows.

dstillman · 2026-08-25T04:06:07+00:00

Make sure File Explorer itself isn’t running as administrator.

Can you drag, say, an image to that folder from your browser?

(Note that you can also use File → Export PDF to export the file.)

raychiangce · 2026-08-25T05:30:34+00:00

File explorer is not running as administrator.

No, I cannot drag image to folder as well.

raychiangce · 2026-08-25T13:18:23+00:00

I have additional information for your investigation.
I have another machine with Zotero 9.0.6 installed. I saved a new article with a PDF attachment, and then dragged and dropped the PDF attachment into the Windows folder without problem. After I updated to version 10, I did the same thing on the same article and got the same error.
Hope this helps with the case.

dstillman · 2026-08-25T20:10:14+00:00

OK, thanks. I was able to reproduce this — it was caused by a platform security update made right before Zotero 10 was released, which very rarely has any functional impact.

This should be fixed in the Zotero beta. Can you install that and confirm? You can switch back to the release version right after if you want.

raychiangce · 2026-08-26T05:56:27+00:00

Thanks. It was fixed after I installed beta version.

amandasutter · 2026-09-02T19:31:49+00:00

I just want to report that I had the same problem and also downloading Zotero beta resolved it.

dstillman · 2026-09-09T20:48:55+00:00

Fixed now in Zotero 10.0.2, available via Help → "Check for Updates…"