Can I search for existence of attachment?

adamsmith

Zotero has the blue vs. hollow circle to show whether an attachment exists on the local computer. I can sort by this, so it's quickly accessible, but is it possible to search for it? In other words, could I create a (saved) search for all items that have an item that's missing on the local machine?

Rintze

And a related question: does the hollow circle only appear if the file was uploaded to Zotero storage on another client, but not yet downloaded to the current client? (i.e., it wouldn't appear for WebDAV setups, or would it?)

Also, a relevant (and timely) XKCD: http://xkcd.com/1246/

adamsmith

I'm pretty sure it would appear on WebDAV as well. It appears for attachments missing for other reasons (e.g. because snapshot didn't work correctly).

dstillman

Not possible currently. We could add something like an [Attachment File] [is] [present]/[missing] condition, but we might first want to figure out a general strategy for parent/child items and searches, with the goal of removing "Include parent and child items of matching items". (See https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/28901/advanced-search-has-several-issues-in-404/#Item_9 and down.) Otherwise it's unclear whether Attachment File would apply to the attachment item or to the parent item.

adamsmith

thanks.

Gracile

It's a small feature request. These circles are mainly here to find *missing* attachments, right ?

=> When there's more than one attachement, if at least one of them is not available locally (or has an incorrect path, etc.), the blue circle next to the *parent* item should be empty/hollow. Otherwise (i.e. atm) you can't sort together all the items which have a missing attachment, and that makes them a bit difficult to find.

dstillman

Yeah, I agree with that. (Performance from checking the additional files is a concern, but I agree that that way is more useful.) Issue created.