Synching Database with Teamdrive Cloud Service

randy.tortuga

Dear all,

does anyone have experiences with using Teamdrive (www.teamdrive.com) for syncing zotero.

The simplest way might be to synchonize the zotero storage folder with teamdrive but I have no idea whether that works.

Alternatively, it might be possible to use WebDAV with Teamdrive but I have no idea how to do so.

Would be happy for some help!

adamsmith

I don't know teamdrive specifically, but it looks like you can sync zotero storage with teamdrive and that will work.

The important (super important!) thing to keep in mind is that you must never use it to sync the actual database (that is the zotero data folder in general and zotero.sqlite in particular). Only sync the folder "storage" within that directory and use Zotero sync to sync the actual data.

zuphilip

Documentation is here: https://www.zotero.org/support/sync and https://www.zotero.org/support/preferences/sync

randy.tortuga

Teamdrive appears similar to dropbox.

The way you describe it, I would do the syncing not via zotero (and webdav) but via teamdrive. In other words, I will not need to use the zotero syncing feature with webdav connectivity?

When I sync the folder "storage" with teamdrive will it lead to syncing the whole zotero database?

adamsmith

no, that's why I say:

you must never use it to sync the actual database (that is the zotero data folder in general and zotero.sqlite in particular). Only sync the folder "storage" within that directory and use Zotero sync to sync the actual data.

you will definitely still need to use Zotero data sync, just not file sync. (see the first link posted by zuphilip for the distinction). There is no alternatively to running data sync through Zotero.

randy.tortuga

I understand.

On one of my devices I selected to only sync the storage folder with Teamdrive.

Now I am wondering how I put the folder on the second machine to the right place.

Should I work with a "symbolic link"?

aurimas

I'm not familiar with TeamDrive, but some sync software allows you to sync between arbitrary locations, so that would be easiest to set up. Otherwise, yes, symbolic links are the way to go.

randy.tortuga

I have just conntected my zotero library on different computers using Teamdrive syncing for the storage folder.

Now I have an additional question: How can I best set up a "group library" which would also encompass sharing of attachment with another user.

So, basically, I only want to share parts of my library via the group library function with someone else.

aurimas

To share items with a group, you just drag and drop. Since you're not using zotero.org to sync files, you would have to share your entire "storage" directory with your group via Teamdrive (and they, in turn, would have to share their whole storage directory with you). That means you would end up with all of their file attachments (including personal library) and vice versa. Clearly that's not a good setup.

You could use zotero.org to sync _only_ your group library attachments. But now you'd be using two services to sync the same files and (while I think it should work ok) that is asking for trouble.

randy.tortuga

"You could use zotero.org to sync _only_ your group library attachments. But now you'd be using two services to sync the same files and (while I think it should work ok) that is asking for trouble."

So does this mean I could try and use teamdrive syncing for my own library and zotero.org for my group library attachments? If so, what kind of settings do I need to apply?

aurimas

Again, I don't recommend this setup, it might not work, and we won't be able to help you troubleshoot if it doesn't (or if anything else related to file attachments doesn't work).

In theory, you would tell Zotero to sync file attachments for groups under Preferences -> Sync and that should do the trick.