"Attached file could not be found"; storage subdirectory discrepancies.

oldtimer

Recently I have been getting "attached file could not be found" error messages on one of my computers. They seem to occur for any attachment older than August 18, 2013 11:00 local time, whereas newer attachments are fine.
Debug output is D504740191 .

In that output, the file is looked for in directory 6Z9DAVPU,
which does not exist on that computer. The pdf file is actually located in directory SVKSMSRR (found by "ls"). I found similar discrepancies for other attachments.
However, on a different computer, the corresponding attachment is indeed in directory 6Z9DAVPU, and it opens without problem (as do newer attachments). I do all synching, database and files, via zotero.org.

Also, with the error message "attached file could not be found", there is the option of manually locating the file. I can point zotero to the correct file in SVKSMSRR, which it seems to accept, but this does not resolve the problem - the original error message still appears.

Please help. Thank you !

aurimas

Are you getting sync errors (red exclamation mark next to a green circular arrow on the top right) on the computer that cannot locate attachments? If not, click the green circular arrow and see if the sync completes without errors.

oldtimer

It completes without error. Data base integrity check also works.

aurimas

Can you access the missing files online at zotero.org?

dstillman

A file for 6Z9DAVPU doesn't exist on the server, so you likely added it on another computer (or with Zotero pointed at a different data directory) and never synced it. See Files Not Syncing.

Also, with the error message "attached file could not be found", there is the option of manually locating the file. I can point zotero to the correct file in SVKSMSRR, which it seems to accept, but this does not resolve the problem - the original error message still appears.

For stored files, relocating doesn't do anything other than update the filename. Every item has its own folder based on its unique key, and that's where Zotero looks. So you should only need to use relocate if you rename a stored file outside Zotero, and you should never navigate to another directory, because it won't work. SVKSMSRR is an item (and presumably a copy of this attachment) in one of your group libraries.

oldtimer

Thanks for asking. I see that they are missing there as well.
However, attachments used to be accessible on the computer with problems (Linux workstation) as well as on my laptop for years,
synching without major difficulties.

dstillman

If they're not in your storage folder, it's highly unlikely they ever were. It's possible you pointed Zotero to a different Zotero data directory, even without realizing it. If you switched to a new data directory and the files never synced to the server properly (which it appears they didn't), Zotero would pull down your data but wouldn't be able to pull down the files.

dstillman

Well, and moreover, since the files aren't on the server but are on another computer, there's no way they could've ever been on this computer. The whole point is that they didn't sync from the other computer. The Files Not Syncing doc covers this.

dstillman

It looks like only a handful of files you added before this past August are synced to the server (or you purged your online storage, but that would've had to have happened before syncing to this data directory). You have thousands more attachments from before then that aren't on the server.

Were you using WebDAV previously?

oldtimer

Dan: Thanks. I will check file syncing.

oldtimer

Dan: Thank you again (belatedly). Problem was solved by straightening out the syncing.