Syncing between devices

ftv88

Hi,

I use Zotero on two different computers and have always used Dropbox for saving my library. I know it is not recommended but is there any other way I can access my full-text files from both computers?

adamsmith

That's what Zotero's own sync is for. https://www.zotero.org/support/sync

ftv88

Ok, when I've used dropbox it has been very easy to share papers, just right clicking on them and making a dropbox download link. How can I share papers easily from zotero with links?

ftv88

Under files and folders --> linked attachment base directory.. what exactly does revert to absolute paths do?

bwiernik

1) You can drag the attachment item from Zotero to your email program to send it as an attachment.

2) The base directory feature is used with Linked Files (see here). With Linked Files, rather than storing the attachment file in Zotero and syncing it with the Zotero server, Zotero just stores a link to the file on your computer. The Base Directory feature if the file path to your files differs across computers (e.g., if you are using Dropbox to sync Linked Files, and the path is C:/Users/ftv88/Dropbox/Zotero on one computer but D:/Dropbox/Zotero on another computer). See here for more information. If you click the "revert to absolute paths" button, Zotero will convert the stored link paths to use the full file path for the current computer.

You absolutely should not store your Zotero data folder in Dropbox. You can use Linked Files to store just the attachment files in Dropbox, and the Zotfile plugin can help with that (see here for instructions). But in general, I recommend just using Zotero's native file sync features with Zotero storage for the easiest and most hassle-free syncing solution.

ftv88

1) So it is not possible to share download links?

2) Is a shortcut available so that my whole library makes linked files to dropbox from all my excisting pdf's?
When I right click a pdf file and chose show link location, it almost always goes to my local folder, if it is possible that all pdf's gets linked to dropbox and it chose those files that would be perfect. Is that possible? And what if I format my computer, is it easy to link all the files in dropbox again?

3) Before I do anything I would like to collect all my pdf's to my account. Now many are saved as linked files in dropbox and not in my local folder, what is the best way to do that?

bwiernik

Okay, what I would recommend you do is to use the Zotfile plugin to manage your PDFs. With Zotfile, you can keep your PDFs organized in a folder in your Dropbox folder. See the “Alternative Syncing Solutions” section here: https://www.zotero.org/support/sync

ftv88

Thanks, is there a way to get all my existing PDF's over to a zotfile folder on dropbox? I have a huge library.