Losing a file when I rename it from metadata

carhogg

I am currently having this problem in a later version of zotero (2.1.8) in firefox 3.6.17 on windows 7.

When I click rename file from metadata, the file in the database is renamed, but the name in the zotero browser window is unchanged. When I try to use the attachment from zotero, I have to manually locate the file.

I have checked, and the filename was exactly the same in the database and zotero before I tried to rename it.

Any help would be great,
Charlie

PS The name of the original file was
C:\Users\Charlie\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ex4n6yu9.default\zotero\storage\UCUNEGJR\S0022112010005409a.pdf
On using the rename from metadata, the actual file changed name to
C:\Users\Charlie\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ex4n6yu9.default\zotero\storage\UCUNEGJR\DALZIEL - 2011 - The twists and turns of rotating turbulence.pdf
The name in the zotero folder did not change however. The error report is 1671016283.

This problem may stem from my strange workflow for adding pdf's from the web. 1) I save the pdf file to my desktop. 2) I use the "store copy of file ..." option to add the file. 3) I then use "Retrieve metadata for pdf 4) I then rename the file from the metadata.
This seems a standard thing to try and do, but I can't find an automatic route to do all these steps in one go. Am I missing something?

dstillman

(NS_ERROR_FILE_ACCESS_DENIED)" location: "JS frame :: chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/data/item.js

Right-click on your 'zotero' directory (your Zotero data directory), click Properties, and make sure the Read-Only checkbox is empty.

carhogg

Yes, I suppose that wouldn't help :{)

Now it works. I can even do it to multiple files at once! Wonderful scenes. Thanks.

carhogg

Unfortunatley this problem has raised its head again. It seems some files are automatically set to read-only when I download them. This then causes this error again. Is there a way of ensuring that all files are downloaded so that I can rename them?

Another observation about this is that strangely, the files do get renamde even though they are read only. The problem is that the name of the file in zotero doesn't change. Perhaps I don't understand the mechanism enough, but this behaviour seems strange.

Any help would be great.

Thanks,
Charlie

dstillman

Unfortunately the read-only attribute isn't something that Zotero controls or can do anything about. It might be due to security software on your system or Windows bugs. This is a problem only on Windows.

carhogg

Thanks. I'll have a look at it. To be honest, once in a while I just reset the file access properties for the zotero file and then run the rename command from zotero.

Heckscher

This happens to me (on Windows XP and 7) for anything that goes to the temp directory. If you download to another directory, such as \Downloads, files are not set to read-only and there's no problem. You can reset this default location in the Firefox options. If you do end up with a lost file, you can find it manually (or look in the temp directory), set the property to read.write, drag it into Zotero, and delete the disconnected record -- a minor but not a major pain.