How to localise (localize) missing snapshots and PDF files?

IsaakM
After I updated Zotero and after some changes in my sync settings, I've encountered a multiple times the problem of website snapshots and PDFs missing from my library.

This is very unfortunate because some of these articles took me very long to find them and I could only access them while I was in an academic library that licensed full text databases such as Web Of Science. That's why I stored them in my Zotero library including their PDFs or snapshots, so that I could access them when I'm not in these specific libraries, especially when I'm home or offline.

When I doubleclick such an entry I get a prompt that asks me to localise the missing file. I don't have a clue whether the file is still there locally and if, where to find it. It's unfortunate that Zotero expects me to know this.

My question: what is the best way to retrieve missing snaphots and PDFs?

My suggestion: a function to automatically search the local library for the missing file would be very helpful.
  • adamsmith
    Presumably they should be synced? Did you try this after connecting to your webDAV server?
  • dstillman
    @IsaakM: But if you just upgraded you should have exactly the same files you had before on this computer, unless you're accidentally using a different Zotero data directory from what you were using before. You can sort by date in the 'storage' directory of your current data directory to see if you're missing an entire range of dates, which would suggest you're using a different directory, and you can look for other copies of zotero.sqlite on your system (e.g., within 'zotero' directories within your Firefox profile directory or Zotero profile directory). If you find another directory, we can help you switch to that one.
    My suggestion: a function to automatically search the local library for the missing file would be very helpful.
    That message just means the files don't exist in the storage directory, so a search function doesn't make any sense.

    If you're using a different computer, the issue is likely just that you haven't set up syncing, as adamsmith says.

    https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/files_not_syncing
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