Directory problem when trying to drag and drop into a group folder

juliajones

When I try to drag an article into my group folder, it shows an error page that says "the address isn't valid".

There is a notice that says "The file '[lists folders]' cannot be created.

Check that the file is not currently in use, that its permissions allow write access, and that it has a valid filename.

Restarting your computer or disabling security software may also help."

How do I find out if it has write access or a valid file name?

adamsmith

Could you provide a debug ID for the action that causes this problem, please?
https://www.zotero.org/support/debug_output

juliajones

D1048360160

dstillman

That message pretty much means what it says. You'll have to try the steps it suggests.

juliajones

How do I do that though? How do I find out if it has write access or a valid file name?

dstillman

All files within your Zotero data directory need to be owned and writable by your user account. That's specific to your OS and not really a Zotero issue, so we can't help you with that. Zotero, like any other program, just needs to be able to write to its own files.

As the message says, this could also be an issue with security software on your system.

juliajones

Well, I've tried all of those things and it still won't work. It's probably something with my computer I guess.

dstillman

You've tried temporarily disabling your security software, and you've tried setting your entire Zotero data directory, including all files and folders below it, to be owned and writable by your user account?

juliajones

I disabled the security software, and made sure all were writable. The owner is the user name where the files are saved to. is there a way to change the owner to my zotero user name? Is that what you mean?

dstillman

No, nothing to do with your Zotero username. This error occurs when Zotero — via Firefox in your case — isn't able to write files to disk. The main things that would cause that would be security software and files or directories within your Zotero data directory not being writable by the OS user account that Firefox is running as (meaning, in almost all cases, the OS user account you're logged into). You can see the full path in question in the error message and try creating a test file with that filename in that location. Beyond that, you'd have to ask for help elsewhere (in person, help desk, etc.) —  if Zotero can't write to the disk, that's a problem outside Zotero, and we're not able to provide general OS support.

dstillman

(And the filenames are valid. In the case of your debug output, the files it's trying to create are storage\5EPE3R7Q\1.html and storage\7XCK2EJS\ui-icons_888888_256x240.png within your data directory.)

juliajones

Those files exist in my folder. I tried dragging and dropping again. This is the new debug ID: D317934047. Does that tell you anything different?

juliajones

The warning sign on the browser pane says "zotero\storage\85GUHUA3\JournalAd-announce-shre-200x185-SL_v1_0.gif' cannot be created." Is that blocking other things from working?

dstillman

It's all just the same issue — the individual files don't matter. If you can't figure it out, you should ask someone to look at your system. You can also try a different user account, try Zotero Standalone, try moving the data directory to another location outside your Firefox profile directory (in case security software is still interfering)... But I'm afraid there's not much more we can tell you on this. Zotero just needs to be able to write to its own files.

juliajones

Okay, thanks for your help.