Full text syncing/Indexing behavior (D1772836241)

sdspieg · November 8, 2018

We haven't quite figured out the logic behind the full-text syncing/indexing behavior. I am trying to rebuild what used to be a very large local Zotero database that I had to delete from one of my computers because it got corrupted for some inexplicable reason (it was just in a subdirectory of my local Windows user folder and not on dropbox or a network folder or an external drive of anything).
I have selected the groups/collections I want to sync first and foremost and have activated full-text and automated syncing. They do download quite quickly, which is nice. But not the pdfs. Which are on the server. So when I click on a pdf, it immediately downloads. But when I do click on the sync icon, it immediately stops. I tried rebooting, but the same happens
Thoughts? And also - if the extracted full text is stored on the server (as it presumably is for at least the items that were indexed on some computers), does it still download the pdf or just the cached text?

sdspieg · November 8, 2018

Following up:

I exported a csv file (here) from one of our groups

when I open it in Excel, I see (column AL) a 'File attachments' column that has a link to where that pdf file is supposed to be on my folder

for example, the "Polish-Belarusian Relations: Time of technical contacts" article is supposed to be in "C:\Users\Stephan\Zotero\storage\6KVM3IXM\Dyner - 2014 - Polish-Belarusian Relations Time of technical con.pdf"

but so when I try to get into "C:\Users\Stephan\Zotero\storage\6KVM3IXM" on my hard drive, I see that there is no such folder

Could it be that this was somehow queued, and already allocated a folder, but that it never actually completed?

adamsmith · November 8, 2018

The file link would always export regardless of whether the file is on that particular synced copy of Zotero, so all you're seeing is just files that are not syncing properly.
https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/files_not_syncing

To start with the obvious, you have File sync set up to sync "at sync time"? If so, resetting file sync history (and then settling in for a long wait -- you'll be downloading significant amounts of data and that will take time) is probably the way to go.