pdftotext zotero plugin install

rbos

Hi!

I'd like to install the pdftotext and pdfinfo Zotero binaries, but not require that individual users in a lab install them to their profile, as the instructions require.

Is there a way to put them on a global system path somewhere, or do I have to install them in individual user profiles?

I already deploy Zotero to FF's global extensions directory, and it would be nice if I could dump the executables somewhere centrally and have the plugin automatically use them.

aurimas

Based on the way Zotero is coded, it looks for these files in the data directory, which is separate for each user. You could symlink them to each user's directory though, that should work.

adamsmith

FWIW, Dan and Simon have mentioned that in the medium run they'd like to be able to use pdf.js for this purpose, which would get rid of this problem among other issues. Not sure how far away we are from that option, though.

rbos

It would probably be simpler just to copy the files rather than mess around with whatever Windows uses for symlinks, I think. So I'd need a logon script or a group policy preference that shoves the files into place for every user who logs into the machine, or stick it into their default profile, I guess.

Thanks for the feedback!

edit: and people wonder why it takes a couple minutes to log in. :)

rbos

Oh.. feck. Mozilla randomizes the profile name, so I can't pre-populate the files using any kind of logon script unless I also hardcode Firefox's profile path.

Well, that's a problem.

rbos

Which is what I ended up doing. Firefox now uses a hardcoded profile path and I use Group Policy Preferences to deploy the files. It seems to work.

aurimas

@Dan, we could add a pref to install pdf tools on first run

dstillman

That would be somewhat complicated, since the installation code is currently in the pref window. Do you mean a pref to just pop up the install prompt, like when you try to index a file without the tools installed? Not really a great first-run experience...

It'd be much better to just switch to pdf.js, but I'm not sure what the current state of pdf.js is. I don't know if Simon has looked into it recently to see if it can do sufficient text extraction yet.

aurimas

That would be somewhat complicated, since the installation code is currently in the pref window. Do you mean a pref to just pop up the install prompt, like when you try to index a file without the tools installed? Not really a great first-run experience...

Can't imagine it being too hard to move the install code into something more modular and then have it run on first start. That should probably happen in the background, but error handling would be somewhat awkward.

Switching to pdf.js would be much better, I agree.

dstillman

I don't think it's worth the work it would take, particularly since it would hopefully be replaced in the near future anyway.

unpluggedatnight

rbos:

Any chance you could share some more details on how you were able to implement your workaround?

I am currently able to deploy the Firefox extension (global extension directory), Word add-in (global extension directory), Chrome extension (chrome gpo extension) and standalone install silently to all of our campus labs however the one hangup I have is deploying the pdftotext and pdfinfo files due to the random firefox profiles. I really want to avoid doing a firefox profile copy to each machine.

Thanks Much

rbos

Hi!

I un-randomed the Firefox profiles, and used Group Policy Preferences to put it in place in the new un-randomed profile.

So I deployed a profiles.ini in the logged-in user's Firefox folder, looking like

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1

[Profile0]
Name=default
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/zhhgt7ft.default

and then deployed the pdfinfo-win32.exe and pdftotext-win32.exe into the newly-static location.

unpluggedatnight

rbos:

Thanks for the information. I was able to find another way to achieve the same results...

I placed the necessary files in browser\defaults\profile\zotero

When a user opens Firefox for the first time any files or folders located in the browser/defaults/profile directory will be copied to the users default firefox profile...in this case it copies the zotero folder and contents. I've tested it out and had no issues so far. When the Zotero firefox extension installs (also on the first run of firefox) it places all it's necessary files in the copied zotero folder and all is well.

Thanks for your help.