Please update the following knowledge article for Win 7 users: Using a Folder Synchronization Servic

bradco

With the new year, I'm sure I'm not the only user who is going to be putting their old Win XP systems to pasture, and getting in the saddle of new Win 7 system(s). As I write this, 2 new HP systems are being prepared for shipment to me. I'll be in Win 7 Pro.

The article referenced above describes MS "FolderShare". Actually FolderShare is the old name of the current "Windows Live Sync" for Win XP. I say for Win XP, because if you go to the Windows Live Sync site, here is the message posted there:

"The Sync website will soon stop working
Windows Live Mesh 2011 is replacing Windows Live Sync, and new users can’t download Sync anymore. In early 2011, this website will be shut down and your files will stop syncing. Learn more about Windows Live Mesh 2011 and how to upgrade."

Please update your knowledge articles so that end users who are going to Win 7 (in droves), can confidently move Zotero 2.x to new systems. Thank you very much. Brad

Simon

As that page notes at the top, since Zotero 2.0 supports sync natively, it is deprecated. Additionally, using a third-party file sync service is one of the top ways people corrupt their databases (by opening the database in multiple locations simultaneously). It's a wiki, so you're free to modify the page, but those sync methods are no longer officially supported.

bradco

Note your curt response. As an end-user, "modify the page" in a wiki sure seems unhelpful at this point. I'm not a developer. Since, Zotero "supports sync natively", useful at this point would be a knowledge article on the native sync feature and any set-up that may be needed. Personally, in the years that I've used 3rd-party syncing (FolderShare/Live Sync), I've always opened data files one at a time.

PS: I've found the knowledge article on Zotero File Storage, the Zotero syncing option. I see that this is a fee-based service, if storage needs exceed 100 MB. I"m already 1/4 of the way to Zotero's quota. I see no reason to opt for "native" syncing, when the MS Live Mesh imposes no such fees, or nearly so limited a size cut-off. With Simon's invitation to modify a wiki, I suppose, upon successful set-up of MS Mesh, when I have time I'll write it up.

adamsmith

I've added a link to the sync support page from that page and clarified that it's no longer supported.
But it's all over Zotero, too: it's linked to from the homepage, you get directed to a page explaining sync on the first installation of zotero 2.0. It's linked to from the sync panel of the Zotero preferences and if you search the documentation for "sync" you get to that page, same if you google "Zotero synch" - so you really don't need a developer to spend time to point you there.

Short responses from developers are the norm, unless a longer explanation is really needed. It's expected of users to be able to perform at least do a cursory search of the documentation.
That has nothing to do with being impolite, but it's the only way developers are able to provide effective support without using an undue amount of their time - which we'd all rather see them use on developing the product. Note that you go a reply within an hour on a weekend. For free. For a free product.

And for what it's worth, Simon's answer provided you with the additional information that documentation is, in part, community generate and that you are welcome to contribute - I find that helpful.

edit: see - wasn't hard to find. But I cannot re-iterate enough the warning against using 3rd party syncs. If you _ever_ have to copies of Firefox with a synced folder between them open at the same time (even if you're not using Zotero on one of them) - e.g. when you're forgetting to turn off your work computer - you can permanently and irretrievably corrupt your database. There are free webDav services up to larger data volumes that you can use safely instead of Zotero file storage.

bradco

OK adamsmith: I understand it's free- it is great software, originated at a university- understood. Consideration of an annual subscription service may well help those who can more easily pay money then take the time to do the considerable digging that Zotero documentation seems to require. I'm speaking for those that don't go thru the documentation structure on a routine basis ... just a few times per year. Brad

adamsmith

I don't understand what any for-pay service would have provided you with in addition. I think Simon just didn't consider that you wouldn't be aware of Zotero's native sync - since it's advertised all over and much, much easier to find than the KB article you link to.
And the fact that you seem disinclined to pay for Zotero server, which provides you with a vastly superior product (e.g. data security, files available online, file sharing in groups) wouldn't seem to bode well for a for-pay support system, with very dubious added value.