basic-- How do I save pdf's directly from Chrome into my Zotero stand-alone?

rrimler

Hi all,

I have an embarrassingly basic question. I used to have a Mac and used Zotero within Firefox. I just switched over to a PC and I use Google Chrome instead of Firefox, so I downloaded the stand-alone Zotero and installed the Chrome extension. It seems to be working fine for exporting citations from websites to my bibliography, but it won't download PDF's directly into my Zotero library.

On my Mac, using the Firefox Zotero, most of the time the "where do you want to save this pdf?" box would have an option for me to click "save to zotero" as well as "retrieve metadata." This didn't always work, but it was usually an option. Is saving PDF's directly from online to Zotero stand-alone not an option?

I also don't know where to choose to save these PDF's so that I can see them in my library later.

Thanks-- in case it's relevant, my OS is Windows 7.

adamsmith

there is no great solution to this so while basic it's certainly not embarassing. Here are the three best ways to do this:

1. Download to your desktop or another readily available folder and drag to Zotero

2. Drag the URL to Standalone (you can grab the item that's on the left of the URL bar and drag it.

3. Use Zotfile to attach downloaded PDFs to an existing item.

Devs are planning a more visible solution for importing webpages with no translators (currently possible only via right-click --> Save as ZOtero Snapshot), if that's implemented that would likely also work for PDFs.

rrimler

Thanks for your help! Downloading the item to my desktop and dragging it over works ok, so that's a relief. Dragging the URL did not work for me when I tried it (it resulted in a file that couldn't be opened.) I haven't downloaded Zotfile yet so I'll have to try that one of these days.

I have another, I think related question. How do I get my old library (the pdfs themselves) and all those citations transferred over to Zotero standalone? I've tried dragging my library file (which I transferred over from my old Mac) into the file that comes up when I instruct Zotero to "show data directory"-- doesn't work. I've also tried just dragging the library file into Zotero, and that hasn't worked either. How do I do this, and are all those citations lost?

adamsmith

generally, as I understand you, you're on the right track:
see here, specifically:
http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/transferring_a_library
If that doesn't work, you'd need to specify what exactly you're doing and how it doesn't work.

rrimler

Thanks for the link. When I open "show data directory" it shows me a file called "zotero" (nested within a bunch of other crazy files). This is the file I dragged my library into, but none of the pds or citations from that library show up when I open Zotero.

adamsmith

what do you mean by "my library" - what format does that (i.e. your copy of your library from your old computer) have?

rrimler

It was a folder called "My library" containing a folder called "files"-- but I just read a little more on that page you linked me to, which said that "zotero.sqlite" is the most important file to transfer. So I just transferred that .sqlite file to the zotero folder and reopened Standalone and all my stuff showed up! At least the citations did--when I try to open the associated PDF's I get an error message telling me they are no longer attached. I thought the associated PDFs are stored in the .sqlite file?

adamsmith

the pdfs are in the folder called "storage"

adamsmith

which, to be clear, you can also just copy over.

rrimler

Ah, got it. My library is showing up now and the PDF's are accessible from Zotero. Thanks a lot!