"purge storage"

ken.shadlen

on the storage page, what happens if I hit this button? I'm scared to try, out of fear that I'll lose everything. It says next to it, "Purge files from personal library." What I'm wondering is if that's automatic or (hopefully) I hit it and then get screens with guidance where I can select what to keep and what to delete? Thanks.

adamsmith

you can't selectively remove items from storage in Zotero, so what you're after isn't possible.

Purge storage clears out all files synced to the Zotero server on the server (it doesn't delete them: they're still there locally). There are very rare occasion's when you would want to use it; the only ones I can really think of is if you're switching to webDAV syncing for your personal library or if you want to stop syncing files for your personal library (and want the space for syncing group files, say).

ken.shadlen

that's very helpful, thanks. So I can't use this to free space. So as i'm coming up against the 300MB limit, my only two options are to delete stuff I don't need or purchase additional space. Correct?

dstillman

Correct.

(Technically "Purge Storage" would free up space temporarily, but you'd have no control over when local files were re-uploaded and just filled up the quota again.)

adamsmith

you could also find a webDAV provider with a larger free storage amount and sync through that (see https://www.zotero.org/support/sync#webdav ) or you could just stop file syncing altogether.

But speaking from personal experience, I find the lack of hassle and ease of use well worth the max. 10$/month file storage costs.