Automatic PDF download failed

ianvdl

Hi

I recently made a discussion (https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/29338/journal-of-clinical-microbiology-site-translator-pdf-download/) where I had trouble auto-downloading the PDF. After updating all the related software, things worked fine.

I'm helping someone else out with Zotero as well, and they had the same problem. Updating everything, however, did not solve the problem.

Zotero detects the PDF (at: http://jcm.asm.org/content/51/5/1596.abstract) along with the PubMed entry and Snapshot, but only downloads the PubMed entry, not the snapshot or the PDF. Next to the PDF it shows a red "X" after a while.

This very same action works perfectly on my own pc. We are both behind the same university proxy, and using Zotero Standalone along with the Firefox add-on. I am using XP and she is on Windows 7.

Any suggestions?

aurimas

Can both of you download the PDF when not behind proxy? Looks like that particular article is open access

Edit: also, can she open the PDF in the browser? If she has "Automatically take snapshots..." preference checked, then it would be quite odd that she's not getting a Snapshot.

In the end, we'll probably need to see her debug log for an attempt to save that article: http://www.zotero.org/support/debug_output Post the Debug ID here.

ianvdl

We can both view the PDF in the browser. The article is indeed Open Access.

I cannot check whether she can download the PDF without the proxy, there is currently no other way to connect to the internet on campus. I can download it fine with the proxy though.

I'll get the debug output a bit later today and post the ID here.

Thanks for the assistance.

aurimas

What kind of proxy are we talking about?

Is it a web proxy? I.e. You will see it embedded in the URL. Something like www.google.com.easyproxy.someuniversity.edu

Or is this a system proxy? That would be configured either directly in Firefox preferences (Options -> Advanced -> Network -> Connection -> Settings) or globally (on Windows XP, Control Panel -> Internet Properties -> Connections -> LAN Settings) and you would not see anything unusual in the URL.

ianvdl

It is not visible in the URL.

It seems to be a system proxy set via Control Panel -> Internet Properties -> Connections -> LAN Settings.

Here is a screenshot of the current settings: http://i39.tinypic.com/p4sg4.jpg

Usually when we need to connect to the internet, a dialog box pops up asking for the username and password for the proxy.

aurimas

I'd compare the proxy settings on both computers to make sure they're the same. Also compare the proxy settings in Zotero Standalone (Preferences -> Advanced -> General -> Open about:config -> type in "proxy" at the top and compare what you see). There may very well be differences simply due to different OS.

Sounds like Zotero Standalone is not using the system proxy settings. If all the settings between your two computers are the same, then there might be a bug in Zotero (I don't think Zotero Standalone with system proxies is as extensively tested).

ianvdl

The proxy settings weren't set up on her Windows 7 pc, everything works fine now. Interestingly, browsing was still fine without having it set up, it seems it's only Zotero that currently depends on those settings.

The Zotero proxy settings in about:config were the same.

Thank you for all the help.

aurimas

perhaps she had the proxy configured directly in Firefox? hard to say what exactly was happening. I've never seen a proxy being required to access the internet.

either way, glad that it's working.