Which files are using up space in my Zotero account?

Gabriel_p

I have my Zotero set up so files won't be synced up, or at least I thought so.

My library contains PDFs and weights over 1Gb, Zotero on the other hand shows me that I'm using almost 295Mb of my quota.

I don't know how to distinguish the files that are supposedly using my Zotero storage quota.

How can I do this?

adamsmith

If you synced for a while and then turned off file syncing (e.g. because your storage was full) this is what you'd see. Zotero doesn't delete files on the server if you turn off file sync. It just stops syncing new ones. As long as you have file syncing turned off on all your computers, you cannot increase (and thus exceed) the amount of storage used, with one (unlikely) exception:

Files in groups you own--even when added by other people and not synced to your computers--count towards your storage quota.

Gabriel_p

Thank you for the explanation Adam.

I'd like to know which files are being stored in the Zotero storage. How can I see this?

adamsmith

you can't, sorry.

Gabriel_p

Ok, so there's no direct way of doing it.

Could you perhaps point me to some indirect way? It doesn't matter if it's hacky, I'll appreciate any help.

What I'd like to do is to just wipe my Zotero storage without it affecting my library or the PDFs I do have stored in a local folder (which I link to Zotero)

adamsmith

if you just want to wipe your storage without affecting anything you have locally, use "Purge Storage" at https://www.zotero.org/settings/storage

There is a hacky way for seeing the files that are synced to the server, but it's a bit involved and I'm only going to walk you through the steps if that's really needed.

Gabriel_p

Ok, I just want to be sure I won't bork anything up.

What will 'Purge storage' do precisely? Will it only erase the uploaded PDFs or will it also take with it the Zotero entries associated to those files?

If there are steps I would sure like to know how to check what files are synced, but if it is too much trouble for you I understand.

adamsmith

it will just remove the synced files from Zotero storage. It won't affect any Zotero items, either online or locally, and won't affect any files stored locally.

Gabriel_p

Great, will do that then.

Thanks Adam!