Save Link as Zotero Item: Often problems with pdf files

alobo

One of the most useful features of Zotero is the
ability to save a pdf directely to the library (using Save Link as Zotero Item) and then extract
the metadata to generate the reference item.
Nevertheless, very often, after "Save Link as Zotero Item" all I get is an empty folder.
This problem occurs for links that are actually linked to the pdf, as if you click you do get the pdf. The most confusing is that this problem does not always occur, sometimes I do get the pdf downloaded.
Am I doing something wrong?
An alternative would be having the "Save Link as Zotero Item" as one of the options to be selected when you click on a link.
Thanks!

adamsmith

we need examples to be able to reproduce and answer that.
Many publishers, put a redirecting page between the link and the pdf, so that would be one possibility.

dstillman

This often happens from Google Search results, annoyingly, because Google adds an intermediate tracking page. (While hovering over a search result, click and hold and you'll see that the target address changes to a Google URL.) It might actually be worth hard-coding an automatic follow for that if possible.

Note that, if you're using a PDF plugin, clicking Create New Item from Current Page while viewing the PDF will give you a standalone PDF on which you can run metadata retrieval. You can also drag the favicon to the left of the URL into Zotero.

alobo

An example: in the following search
http://www.google.es/search?q=Multiple+site+tower+flux+and+remote+sensing+comparisons+of+tropical+forest&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
scroll down to
Remote Sensing of Tropical Forest Phenology: Issues and ...

and use Zotero/Save Link as Zotero Item

Regarding "This often happens from Google Search results, annoyingly, because Google adds an intermediate tracking page."
is there any way to translate that complex url to the original one?

Regarding "clicking Create New Item from Current Page while viewing the PDF", I always get the pdf opened by the pdf reader, not within firefox. Is there any way to control that?

Thanks for your help
Agus

dstillman

is there any way to translate that complex url to the original one?

Yes, the intermediate URL contains the target URL, so we could hard-code a fix for this even without following the intermediate URL.

I always get the pdf opened by the pdf reader, not within firefox. Is there any way to control that?

You'd have to install a PDF plugin into Firefox.

We might be able to do this for 3.0, though. The current behavior isn't technically a bug, but it's clearly not desirable behavior.

alobo

Right, this is not a bug. I look forward to your developments!
Many thanks for Zotero!
Agus

dstillman

Fixed on the 3.0 branch. You can try it by installing the 3.0 Branch dev XPI.

alobo

hmm... I'm a bit concerned about installing unstable versions, but I would like to help at least by testing. Am I under the risk of having many troubles with that installation?
Agus

dstillman

Not really, since it's about to be released as a Release Candidate for 3.0 Final, but if you're currently using 2.1, don't worry about it.

alobo

I open again this thread because I still have the problem
with the Firefox 20.0 Zotero plugin 4.0.5. on Mac OSX 10.7.5

It's a real problem because while I have the Firefox Preferences/Applications Portable Document Format (PDF) set
as Preview in Firefox, if I click on the pdf link I always get a
menu with options
Download Open PDF View as HTML View Online Cancel
and none of them let me save to Zotero. No way I can get
the pdf document open within Firefox to use Create Web Page Item from Current Page and then just use metadata retrieval or edit the Info.
The problem is not as annoying on linux because there I get the pdf to open within Firefox (well, sometimes not).
Many thanks for zotero!
Agus

dstillman

Download Open PDF View as HTML View Online Cancel

I don't know what these options are, but if you don't have a PDF plugin in Firefox, you can't use Create Web Page Item from Current Page on a PDF. So you'd have to install one if you want to do that. But even without a PDF plugin, you can right-click on the PDF link and go to the Zotero menu and choose "Save Link as Zotero Item". As long as it's a direct PDF link that should save the PDF as a top-level item that you can run metadata retrieval on.

alobo

No, that's the main point: "Save Link as Zotero Item" does nothing
on Macosx Firefox. The second problem is that the normal way of
circumventing the problem by displaying the pdf within firefox does not work either.

Agus

dstillman

Let's start again, since the stuff above was a long time ago. Can you explain the exact problem you're having with "Save Link as Zotero Item" currently, with steps to reproduce and example URLs?

dstillman

Example:

1. Google for "pdf".

2. Right-click on the IRS "2013 Form W-4" PDF -> Zotero -> Save Link as Zotero Item.

3. I get a top-level PDF attachment in Zotero.

As explained above, this very well may not work if the link isn't actually a direct link to the PDF, but we'll need examples for that, and we won't necessarily be able to do anything about it.

alobo

Actually works with your example (I get fw4.pdf in Zotero), but not with many other, as for example:
http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/dismo/vignettes/sdm.pdf
(I get nothing, nothing happens after Save Link As Zotero Item)

It does work on linux, it's just a problem on the Mac.

Agus

dstillman

Are you sure it's not doing anything? For me, it's not selecting the PDF after adding it—which it should, and as it does for fw4.pdf—but if I sort by Date Modified descending I do see a newly added sdm.pdf at the top.

alobo

True! But this is not the behaviour I get on linux and is not
as with some other pdf docs, as the one you tried, hence the confusion
(I have a very long database and the screen does not even flick after
adding the pdf).
Once I know it, it's a very minor bug.
Thanks
Agus

dstillman

We'll look into why this is happening. Issue created.