5.0beta save pdf to Zotero - translator issues
Hi Dan, I've been trying to save pdfs directly to zotero - right click on the pdf / Zotero Connector / Save to Zotero (pdf)
It isn't working for me.
I've tried two different sites, the first one, Project Muse, I tried because the connector wasn't automatically downloading the pdf
https://muse.jhu.edu.ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au/article/28065/pdf
it throws a 'An error occured ... see translator issues'
So I tried a Springer article, where the connector had successfully grabbed the pdf
http://link.springer.com.ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au/article/10.1007/s11153-004-8034-5
clicked on the pdf link then tried to save it to Zotero and got the same translator issue
Shouldn't the pdf simply be saved to Zotero and then a metadata lookup happen ? Not sure why the translators are being involved.
It isn't working for me.
I've tried two different sites, the first one, Project Muse, I tried because the connector wasn't automatically downloading the pdf
https://muse.jhu.edu.ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au/article/28065/pdf
it throws a 'An error occured ... see translator issues'
So I tried a Springer article, where the connector had successfully grabbed the pdf
http://link.springer.com.ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au/article/10.1007/s11153-004-8034-5
clicked on the pdf link then tried to save it to Zotero and got the same translator issue
Shouldn't the pdf simply be saved to Zotero and then a metadata lookup happen ? Not sure why the translators are being involved.
Generally speaking, this isn't how you want to save, though. You're already on a site with high-quality metadata, so all you need to do is click back and save from the article page, which will save the full metadata and the PDF. [Edit: Oh, I guess you know this. Not sure why the Project Muse translator isn't saving a PDF for you, though.] If you saved directly and then retrieved metadata, you'd currently get fairly low-quality metadata from Google Scholar.
Of course, it'd be better if Zotero properly detected PDF pages and allowed translator-based saving on those, but I think we've just never had very good support for that. @adamsmith and @zuphilip could comment better on why that is — there may be technical reasons why it's tricky to support, but where possible I think it'd be good to make it more of a priority and require it for translator submissions.
When you save via the translator on Project MUSE, do you see a failed attempt to download the PDF (i.e., the red X), or does it not show up at all in the saving popup?
<meta name="citation_pdf_url" content="http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11153-004-8034-5.pdf"/>
However, there seems to be a problem during calling the url and saving the pdf. For another example on SpringerLink also saving the pdf works.
The Springer Link works for me, so that may have been a temporary glitch in how they handle PDFs when Dan and zuphilip tried.