Missing Linked Files

emorales

Hello Dan or Adam. When I index files (always from scientific journals) sometimes they are saved in Zotero with the linked icon and sometimes with the pdf icon. Actually I don't know how to control the appearance of either icon but that is okay. The problem I am having is that linked-icon files go missing while pdf-icon files stay retrievable. The actual message I get reads "File attached could not be found. It may have been moved or deleted outside of Zotero" The point is that I have not moved nor deleted linked-icon files. Any ideas stop this behavior and find my linked-icon files?

adamsmith

All default actions with Zotero will attach files. If you get linked files you are either
1) using ZotFile
2) dragging PDFs to Zotero wile holding the shift key
3) using "attach link to file"

The first thing would be to figure out why you're getting inconsistent behavior. We could maybe say more than, but for links, Zotero just saves the absolute link and if the file is there it opens it, so hard to say.

emorales

Hi Adam. As far as I understand I am not doing any of the three options you mentioned. As a test I created an item in Zotero and I can confirm that I am referring to "Link to File..." item. The way I add papers to my Zotero collection is by clicking the drop down menu next to the Z in Firefox. So the question is how do I save items as pdfs and not links from this drop down menu?

emorales

Hi Adam. A clarification. I did install ZotFile sometime ago but I thought Zotfile is in charge of allowing me to forward my selected papers to my mobile devices only. And actually every time I download a file the ZotFile window at bottom of screen shows up but again, only some files are saved as links and some others as pdfs. How do I make sure to save as pdf all the time?

adamsmith

Zotfile preferences --> General tab --> Location of Files:
Make sure that "Attached Stored Copy of File" is selected.