Force recheck of metadata

AMEGE

Hi,

I am importing my files from RIS files exported from Mendeley. When it is imported to Zotero the Retrieve PDF Metadata option isn't available in the right click options. Yet, some of the files have missing data I would like to try and retrieve automatically. Rectifying this data in Mendeley first would be time consuming, especially as it crashes regularly on Mac since High Sierra upgrade.

Any suggestions welcome.

adamsmith

There's no good option for this, I'm afraid. We're hoping to implementing updating metadata via DOI, PMID etc. but that's still a bit out and in the meantime there's nothing automatic I'm afraid.

AMEGE

Shame :(.

Out of interest, why would a recheck button need to differ from the Retrieve PDF Metadata button? The Retrieve PDF Metadata option appears to work well enough, if it was available to existing PDFs.

adamsmith

because the recheck a) should probably be able to use existing information in the item which allows it to retrieve much better quality data and b) needs to be able to merge existing and new information. Neither of these are terribly difficult problems, they just need to be implemented in a reasonably UX-friendly way.

AMEGE

I see. Fingers crossed for future update. Even if it means you run the recheck and overwrite existing data (with a sufficient prompt to inform the user that it is going to do so, preferably with the data it has pulled from online as a preview and a continue/abort option) would be better.

Off topic, do the fees for the online storage contribute to the Zotero development project or just contribute to costs of servers for storage? Don't think I really need sync options, but if it is part of helpful revenue streams...

adamsmith

definitely part of the revenue stream, yes (and from my own experience, surprisingly nice to have, e.g. for just being able to offer to own groups with storage for collaborative projects).