Cannot sync to Box

The problem is that I cannot sync using zotero standalone, and the report id is 508510149. I enabled debug mode and submitted it. The debug id is D1783377488.

I also found an error message from zotero connector for chrome, and the report id is 1439925714. I'm not sure if it's related. I submitted it just in case.

=======Update 4/30/2015================
I think the bug has been fixed. Zotero works well with box now.
  • BTW, 4E58VM6C.zip has been uploaded to my box account, while 4E58VM6C.prop didn't.
  • HTTP 404 from WebDAV server for HTTP PUT
    This is a bug from your WebDAV provider. An HTTP PUT (at least within a valid directory) should never result in a 404.
  • Thank you for your reply. I will report this bug to box.
  • Same problem with Zotero and Box.com, report ID 1175947116
  • Nothing else we can tell you. This isn't a Zotero issue.
  • Did anyone try to report it to box.com?
  • I tweeted them https://twitter.com/vinaur/status/593201380854083584?s=09 but feel free to bug them some more, since I don't think WebDAV is high on their priority list.
  • I did also
  • edited April 29, 2015
    Same issue for me with Box.com, Zotero Stand-alone, Report ID 1567626888. Such a pain, as I wasted a lot of time 'uploading' pdfs today, which I now can't access. I'll contact them too
  • I am having the same problem. 1434201709. I have also submitted a ticket to Box. No answer yet.
  • Do the admins recommend we follow juliusc's suggestion? Thanks.
  • no absolutely don't follow that advice.
    The problem is uploading files to box.com during sync, restoring from server will definitely not help with that and you may lose data (and take up unnecessary bandwidth, though that's a minor concern).
  • edited April 29, 2015
    Some additional details about the issue (for reference). The 404 response includes the following content
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <d:error xmlns:d="DAV:" xmlns:s="http://sabredav.org/ns">;
    <s:exception>Sabre_DAV_Exception_NotFound</s:exception>
    <s:message>File not found: VQ52ZDEQ.prop?&amp;lt;properties version="1"&amp;gt;&amp;lt;mtime&amp;gt;1430326144435&amp;lt;</s:message>
    </d:error>


    Edit: And here's the cURL request that generates this response (some data redacted ###)
    curl 'https://#####:####@dav.box.com/dav/zotero/VQ52ZDEQ.prop' -X PUT -H "Host: dav.box.com" -H "User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:37.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/37.0" -H "Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8" -H "Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5" --compressed -H "DNT: 1" -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8" -H "Cookie: box_visitor_id=#####.######; box_marketing=1; _ga=#####; box_active_user_subdomain=app; dc191211665=######; box_visitor_id=#####.#####; box_marketing=1; _ga=#####; box_active_user_subdomain=app; dc191211665=#####" -H "Authorization: Basic #####" -H "Connection: keep-alive" --data '<properties version="1"><mtime>1430326144435</mtime><hash>98f59ca8e4cb6792c9b6cef487fa5948</hash></properties>'
  • Also getting errors while trying to sync with Box. Error report 756014610.

    Contains same 404 response as others have mentioned.

    It seems that some items will upload before the server gives an error and stops the uploading process. I had about 150MB to upload and after clicking the sync button a couple times, the size decreased and the number of files to sync came down (from about 380 to 290). However, the uploading seems to have stalled at this point. I'm not sure why this happened.

    The big question is: why did Box suddenly stop responding through WebDAV like this? Did they decide to finally cut off support for it?
  • If Box had cut off support, this would look differently. It's possible they've imposed some type of limit the way 4shared has, but that's impossible to say from our side. Their reaction from twitter so far has not been helpful, but also does not suggest any conscious step on their part:
    https://twitter.com/boxsupport/status/593459445721600001
  • Box responded to my ticket and I am in correspondence with them trying to nut out what the problem is. After sending them detailed screenshots of the problem in action they suggested the following:

    "I'd like you to try and see if you can connect to WebDav by creating a mapped drive. The "folder" path is https://dav.box.com/dav. Let me know if you were able to successfully connect."

    I was able to connect after a few unsuccessful connection attempts, but I don't know what that implies... I await their answer.

    Interestingly, When I attach a PDF to a reference in Zotero, it will successfully open, indicating successful upload to Box. And when I open file location, there it is, sitting in a Box folder. Even if I restart the computer, I can access the file.

    BUT if I try to access the file from another computer (such as my home computer or laptop), it can't locate the file. The PDF is missing from the Box folder. So somehow it is being housed locally and not syncing across devices?

    I'm using Box Sync 3 -- are any of you with the same problem using Box Sync 4?
  • Sorry, I'm using the zotero sync from within zotero settings to setup WebDAV, so I haven't used Box Sync. I didn't know you could use Box Sync with zotero. I also use Papership's app that has Box.com settings built in for getting zotero's library into the app. Let's me carry my entire research library on an iPad.

    Wesley, I think you only have a local copy that zotero is linking. Did you also look on Box's web portal to see if your files are uploaded into the Box cloud? Some of my files will get uploaded (both .prop and zip) when I check Box online, but it seems like zotero's overall sync files aren't being uploaded or the upload confirmation is broken?
  • edited April 29, 2015
    For Box support, here's a minimal failing/passing example (note that either removing the "charset" parameter from Content-Type or changing data to not contain a forward slash fixes the issue)

    $ curl 'https://####:####@dav.box.com/dav/test/VQ52ZDEQ.prop'; -i -X PUT -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8" --data '%2F'
    HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
    server: ATS
    Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2015 01:26:52 GMT
    Content-Type: application/xml
    Content-Length: 222
    Age: 1
    Connection: keep-alive

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <d:error xmlns:d="DAV:" xmlns:s="http://sabredav.org/ns">;
    <s:exception>Sabre_DAV_Exception_NotFound</s:exception>
    <s:message>File not found: VQ52ZDEQ.prop?</s:message>
    </d:error>

    $ curl 'https://####:####@dav.box.com/dav/test/VQ52ZDEQ.prop'; -i -X PUT -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" --data '/'
    HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
    server: ATS
    Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2015 01:27:06 GMT
    Content-Length: 0
    ETag: "#######"
    Content-Type: text/html
    Age: 0
    Connection: keep-alive

    $ curl 'https://####:####@dav.box.com/dav/test/VQ52ZDEQ.prop'; -i -X PUT -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8" --data 'a'
    HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
    server: ATS
    Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2015 01:27:28 GMT
    Content-Length: 0
    ETag: "#######"
    Content-Type: text/html
    Age: 1
    Connection: keep-alive
  • I hadn't even heard of Box Sync till I saw a general email from Box.com today

    "Hi Box User,

    This is a notice that Box Sync 3 will end its services on June 30, 2015. You are receiving this email because you have used Sync 3 in the last sixty days, and we request that you upgrade to Box Sync 4 as soon as possible..."

    After seeing that, I just thought maybe when I sync within Zotero, it was depending on Box Sync, whatever that is. Why else would it think I have used Box Sync 3 within the last 60 days? I don't use Box for anything else apart from Zotero.

    I'm sure I've been doing it the same as you, syncing from within Zotero.

    It's definitely not a local copy that is linking, as then it would display the little page-and-chain icon. As it is, under File Syncing in Zotero Preferences, I have "Sync attachment files in My Library using WebDAV" and "https://dav.box.com/dav/zotero/" as the URL. Box has worked perfectly as a WebDAV until now.
  • I was in process of sending Box more information for the support ticket, but "automagically" things appear to be working for me. now. I have not changed anything about my setup.
  • The error is also gone for me, as well. I made no changes.
  • Guess I have to bring my questions here then. What is Zotero doing about this? I get that it's not a Zotero bug, but is there a way to convert the box to another storage space? Do we just open another account on another webdav and save to there? Will Zotero be backing up and allowing us to save our research in the mean time? i.e. what solutions exist to this issue?
  • Having updated this morning, it looks like it may have been solved. But my question still stands - when this kind of thing happens, does Zotero have a method of stepping in and saving all the work that is on that server?
  • kleinash: Zotero saves all data, first and foremost, to your own computer, so there's no work on the server to save. You're not dependent on your WebDAV provider or even the Zotero servers in order to use Zotero. Files are uploaded only for the purpose of syncing.

    If you want to switch to a different WebDAV provider, you can simply change the URL in the prefs, and Zotero should automatically upload all your files to the new server.
  • edited April 30, 2015
    I can confirm that both PUT requests that were failing above are now working fine. Looks like box.com fixed the issue on their end.
  • Yes, Box synced without errors for me as well.
  • Working for me too :)!
This discussion has been closed.