store copy of file vs zotero folders

nhaliasos
greetings to all,

I am new to this great software, i was wondering if any more experienced users would summarize the pros and cons of the strategy of storing copy of pdf files in a local folder vs using the internal zotero folder hierarchy - whice one do you prefer?

Thank you,
Nik
  • nhaliasos
    sorry i posted before thinking....i meant a comparison between the "link to file" vs using zotero folders storage

    thank you
    Nik
  • adamsmith
    store copy is the only way to sync files using Zotero storage (and thus the only way to share them in groups etc.) It's also the only way to take advantage of the automatic attachment of snapshots and pdfs that many translators provide.

    Links are useful if you need to preserve your old folder structure on the HD for any reason or if you want to store copies of files on a network drive. When neither of those are true, using "store" is preferable.
  • nhaliasos
    as an extension to my thought, would it be feasible to have a feature where files are stored internally but the user also designates a windows folder so at the same time the pdfs are stored also into this folder? this would work as a backup and also sometimes we do want to go through a list of pdfs without opening zotero or have the full library of pdfs at hand
  • adamsmith
    you can set up windows to do that - I believe on Windows 7 the feature is called "collections" - it's also sometimes referred to as virtual folders or saved searches - you can set one up that adds all pdfs added to Zotero's storage folders to a separate Windows folder.
  • nhaliasos
    many thanks

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