ZotFile - Advanced PDF management for Zotero
This is an old discussion that has not been active in a long time. Before commenting here, you should strongly consider starting a new discussion instead. If you think the content of this discussion is still relevant, you can link to it from your new discussion.
This discussion has been closed.
Edit: Yes, it was introduced this one of the recent additions.
But I am not going to maintain a separate forum and usually don't look at other threads in the zotero forum.
I use zotefile and I saved pdf in a Dropbox carpet. The problem is, when I try to open the pdf with zotpad, I can't. Zotpad send to me an error message. I use zotpad to manage pdf in my iPad. Can I do anything to fix it?
When I tried to rename an attachment PDF in my personal library, it seemed to be working just fine, and moved the file as expected
I get the following error in the log:
[JavaScript Error: "1457369944974 Toolkit.Telemetry ERROR TelemetryStorage::loadAbortedSessionPing - error removing ping: PingReadError JS Stack trace: PingReadError@TelemetryStorage.jsm:80:15 < TelemetryStorageImpl.loadPingFile<@TelemetryStorage.jsm:1440:13" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Log.jsm" line: 749}]
[JavaScript Error: "no element found" {file: "https://khauns13:********@api.zotero.org/groups/494424/items/SM94NBD8/file?auth=1&iskey=1&version=1&info=1" line: 1}]
version => 4.0.28.7, platform => Win32, oscpu => Windows NT 10.0; WOW64, locale => en-US, appName => Zotero, appVersion => 4.0.28.7
Is there anything I can do to fix this, or is it a bug?
1) drag PDF to Zotero
2) retrieve metadata - Zotero copies to new folder under ~/zotero/storage
3) Manage attachments > Rename attachment
4) Zotfile throws "unknown error!" plus "The source folder is not valid".
5) Clicking to copy "unknown error!" to clipboard gives {} as for mtd91429 and denlinkd
6) Curiously, it appears Zotfile *has* successfully renamed and moved the file - as per my rules, it is now renamed, in my custom folder in an author-last-name subfolder. However this isn't recognised by Zotero and when I try to open it a "File Not Found" error appears.
7) Manually fixing the link works, but the PDF filename is not updated from within Zotero itself.
Zotero also knows about the location of the custom folder; this setup has been working fine for some years until the update(s) (though I can't work out if it was the Zotero update that broke this, or the Zotfile update).
Do you have some programming experience? Just asking because I would let you run some code to pin down the problem.
General Settings:
Location of files: custom location: /path/to/my/Articles
Use subfolder defined by /%a
Renaming Rules
Format for all types except patents: {%a} {%y} {%t}
Format for Patents: {%a_}{%y_}{%t}
[odd, actually, as what files get renamed to is author_year_title.pdf, which is what I want]
Additional settings:
Delimiter between multiple authors: &
Change to lower case
Replace blanks
Maximum length of title: 80
Maximum number of authors: 1
Number of authors to display when authors are omitted: 1
[things not listed are not checked]
Happy to run some debugging code if that's useful.
I've just discovered ZotFile. It's just what i'm looking for. Thanks for all !!
I've one question (may be already asked, but did not find a topic by searching).
I want to translocate a pdf by renaming it from one sourcefolder to a targetfolder. If in the targetfolder there's already a pdf with that name, Zotfile still copies the file by adding a suffixnumber at the filename.
Is it possible to let Zotfile not to take action? This is to avoid duplicates in the target map (in my case: a big shared institutionfolder with 26 subfolders).
Here are some of my Zotfile preferences:
General Settings:
Location of Files: Custom location: C:\Users\myname\Dropbox\zotero PDFs
Location of Files on Tablet: C:\Users\myname\Dropbox\Tablet
Renaming Rules:
Format for all types except patents: {%a_}{%y_}{%t}
Format for Patents: {%a_}{%y_}{%t}
Additional Settings:
Delimiter between multiple authors: _
Truncate title after . or : or ?
Maximum length of title: 80
Maximum number of authors: 2
Number of authors to display when authors are omitted: 1
Add suffix when authors are omitted: et al
What are both of your source folder settings?
Can someone why has this problem try this:
- Use Zotero for Firefox
- Check whether the same error occurs with the "The source folder is not valid" warning/error
- Allow Scratchpad to run in the browser context (see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/Scratchpad under "Running Scratchpad in the browser context")
- Open Scratchpad under Tools -> Web Developer -> Scratchpad
- Change Environment to Browser (Environment -> Browser)
- Run this code (cmd + L to insert results as comment)
Zotero.ZotFile.getSourceDir(true)
Are you getting the same error message?
Before the problem was fixed, the message “The source folder is not valid” kept appearing whenever I tried to rename my attachments manually.
I was trying to download Zotero for Firefox (since I have only been using the standalone for quite some time now) and I was trying to find my way around using Scratchpad when the strangest thing happened: all my Firefox add-ons/extensions suddenly got deleted and now they take for ever to install. I don’t know what exactly happened and I apologize for the inconvenience.
2. Rename my attachments manually: when Zotfile wouldn’t rename my uploaded documents automatically, I tried to use one of Zotfile’s listed features to rename them myself: Right Click> Manage Attachments> Rename Attachments.
3. I am using a custom location (Dropbox) to store my files: C:\Users\myname\Dropbox\zotero PDFs. (Not sure if this answers your question though)
If you mean the released version(4.2.2) provided in the following link: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/zotfile/, I have tried it and it didn’t work (the error still appears). But if you mean the development version, I downloaded the zip file, extracted it, but I can’t seem to understand the third step: “recreate .zip file containing all the files at the top level, i.e., install.rdf and the chrome directory need to be at the root of the .zip file and not under Zotfile.”
Thanks!
Sorry for reposting my question. Is it possible to give me some answer? Even a short one is ok for me. Thanks a lot !
"Hello,
I've just discovered ZotFile. It's just what i'm looking for. Thanks for all !!
I've one question (may be already asked, but did not find a topic by searching).
I want to rename and translocate a pdf it with zotfile from one sourcefolder to a targetfolder. If in the targetfolder there's already a pdf with that name, Zotfile still copies the file by adding a suffixnumber at the filename.
Is it possible to let Zotfile not to take action? This is to avoid duplicates in the target map (in my case: a big shared institutionfolder with 26 subfolders)."
1. Uploading a PDF :
a. Right Click
b. Add attachment
c. Attach Stored Copy of File
2. Zotfile 4.2.1 is working just fine.
3. Zotfile 4.2.2 : when I right click on the attached PDF and try
to rename it (Manage attachments>Rename attachments), 3
messages appear:
a. Zotfile Error: Unknown Error!
b. Zotfile Error: The source folder is not valid. Please
change the source folder under Zotero-Actions-Zotfile
preferences.You might have to use a custom folder.
c. Zotfile: Renamed attachments X author_title.pdf
4. Zotfile 4.2.3 : when I right click on the attached PDF and
try to rename it(Manage attachments>Rename attachments), 2
messages appear:
a. Zotfile Error: Unknown Error!
b. Zotfile: Renamed Attachments X author_title.pdf
5. The “Drag and drop>Right Click>Retrieve Metadata for PDF"
works in all three versions, but the “right click>Manage
Attachments>Rename Attachments" is only working in Zotfile
4.2.1.
Thank you and I hope this answers your questions.
loubnael, can you try this version and report about the messages that appear? It is a version with specific debug messages. The same error should still occur, just 2-3 additional messages.
http://www.columbia.edu/~jpl2136/zotfile-4.2.3.99-fx.xpi
many thanks for your comment.
The same two massages that appeared in the case of Zotfile 4.2.3 along with a debug message indicating the location of the PDF file in Zotero's storage folder.