using zotero.org without a desktop version?

greenery
I use the stand-alone Zotero version on my MacBook Pro, which syncs/uploads data and pdfs to the zotero.org site, and I pay for unlimited zotero storage.

Is it possible/advisable to use Zotero.org alone? No local version, no local pdfs? I ask because my hard disk is at 95% and I have something like 2000 pdfs. As I've got unlimited zotero/cloud storage, I'm hoping it will be possible to delete zotero from my laptop entirely.

Thanks in advance for any advice/ help.
  • adamsmith
    No, don't go without an installed copy of Zotero. You lose about half the functionality: word processor integration, advanced search, colored tags, saved searches, PDF downloads from many sites, add by identifier, etc.

    There are ways to reduce the fingerprint of Zotero on your HD, but if this is your only copy, I'd really consider if you want to do that -- having cloud Zotero, which doesn't do versioning, so you can't go back to earlier copies, as your only full copy of your database is risky (to be clear, the risk isn't that Zotero loses your data but that you do something by accident and won't be able to revert it with a backup).

    If you really do want to remove files locally, the way to go would be to set Zotero to sync files only "As Needed" and then to delete the files on your harddisk (_not_ from Zotero) after you've made sure they have synced to the server. There may be easier versions of this in the future, but again, I'd advice against this for your principal work computer.

  • DWL-SDCA
    edited April 5, 2017
    A MacBook Pro HD at 95% is really asking for trouble. OSX likes lots of free drive space to work properly. Surely there are files and programs you do not need to use regularly. Apple strongly recommends having at least 10% to 15% (ideally more) of the drive as free space. See the following for ideas / recommendation for regaining space:
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4866518?start=0&tstart=0

    Another set of recommendations is here:
    http://www.imore.com/how-find-out-whats-eating-space-your-macs-hard-drive

    Is buying an external drive to store some of your stuff out of the question? (Don't put Zotero on the external drive.) Please also consider an external drive and using timemachine. You are walking a tightrope and it is fraying.
  • greenery
    Thanks to both of you for thoughtful and woefully good advice. DWL -- I know I'm walking at tightrope at 95%. I do backup to three different external hard drives, in addition to Zotero for pdfs, Endnote for research notes and Dropbox for work product. But in every case I'm talking about storing backups, and what I need to do is get stuff off the hard drive. I've deleted a lot of software I never use, run Cocktail to locate and delete caches, etc etc. I do have another MacBook I could use as an additional external hard drive, but I have to figure out how to set that up.

    Losing the local copy of Zotero would have saved a lot of space, but I'm glad I asked here, because obviously it's not a good idea. So I'll check out the links and go at this from another direction.

    Thanks again.
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