"Retrieve Metadata from PDF" doesn't work

dstillman
This discussion was created from comments split from: "Retrieve Metadata for PDF" is broken.
  • carhogg
    Hi,

    I am using standalone zotero version 4.0.29.15 on a 2016 mac.

    I have found that the "retrieve metadata from PDF" tool has not worked for some time (about a year). Is this a common experience? How can I fix it?

    At the moment I get the error "Could not read text from PDF".

    Thanks,
    Charlie
  • dstillman
    edited May 14, 2017
    Start by removing all pdfinfo/pdftotext files in your Zotero data directory. Then restart Zotero and reinstall the PDF tools from the Search pane of the preferences.

    If that doesn't help, provide a Debug ID for trying to retrieve metadata for an attachment with embedded text that doesn't work.
  • carhogg
    Deleting those files and reinstalling fixed the error. Thanks. This problem may have started when I moved over from windows to mac.

    Thanks so much!

    I still get the error occasionally "no matching references found". Presumably this has a different cause.
  • adamsmith
    that usually has the cause indicated by the message, i.e. that Zotero simply isn't able to match the PDF to a metadata record online.
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