"Rename files from..." and saved search for PDFs not working

mbentley

I would like to use the "Rename files from Parent Metadata" function on all of my attached PDFs (~1440). I have created a saved search for "Attachment file type is PDF" and this works great. If I expand the list and select all, I get a list in which all of and only the PDFs are selected.

However, if I not right click on one of these entries, I do not get the "Rename files" option. If I manually select 20 or so, I get the option, but I would like to be able to select all and do it in one go.

Any suggestions?

ajlyon

You should be able to search for file type PDF, not including the parent items. Then use Ctrl-A to select all and right-click. The parents will not be selected and the option should appear in the right-click menu.

mbentley

I'm pretty sure that is exactly what I've done, and the selected items *do* only include the PDFs if I scroll through the list, and not the parent items, however I still don't see the right-click option.

I have tried it in both 2.1b5 in firefox, and in zotero SA. "Include parent and child items of matching items" is unticked in both cases.

Any others ideas?

Blahah404

I just ran into the same problem and managed to get it to work eventually. Your method is correct (search for PDF then select all) but your library must contain something which is found in that search but which cannot be renamed from metadata. Only PDFs attached to Journal Article type citations can be changed. So, once all the results of the search are selected, you need to scroll through looking out for things which are either not PDFs, or which are PDFs attached to entries which aren't journal articles (documents, books etc). Deselect all the non-journal article PDFs and you will then see the right-click option.

To deselect items in a selected list hold Ctrl+click (Cmd+click on Mac).

mbentley

Great, thanks for the tip - that explains it! I removed all of my non-journal article entries from the "attachment type=PDF" search results, and it all works as it should.

I guess it's not possible to set up a search that does both:

- Item Type is Journal Article

and

- Attachment File Type is PDF

but this returns zero items (I guess the first searches the catalogue entries, and the second only the attachments, with no bearing on their relationship to each other).

Anyway, this is a one-time event for me, so many thanks!

apowers313

I have the same problem described above - I don't have the option to rename files from parent metadata because that option isn't valid to some files. In my case, it's a problem because some of my PDF files are labeled "attachments" even though they have no parent. Unlike the previous poster, this will be an ongoing issue for me because I intend to use a saved search to rename all my files before syncing to my Kindle.

Is there any way to have a saved search check to see if an attachment really has a parent object?