Syncing to what I can see on the website (read-only)

DouglasMilnes

I've looked around on the forums and seen a 2013 thread that indicated that I cannot sync with a group labelled as:
Type: Public
Membership: Closed
Library Access: You can only view

It seems to me rather odd that I can see citations if I go onto a website but not if I use that website's client. Surely, the whole point of Zotero is to make citations easier in the documentation I am producing.

The only way this seems possible in a public group is if I am a member, which the group clearly is not inviting (I'm not even sure they are active any more) and I don't really feel a need to be vetted for membership with all the problems that could cause the group owners.

Is there any way that I can use the client - which I can access from my word processor - to store an image of the group (I actually only want one library from it) locally?

dstillman

You can save items from groups you're not a member of just by using the Save to Zotero button in your browser from the library's items view.

DouglasMilnes

I don't see any such button
https://www.zotero.org/groups/113609/human_rights_project/items/collectionKey/65WF94BC
The best I have managed is to bring in an RSS feed. But that is treated differently on the client and is only a partial solution.

It doesn't make sense to me that I can view a public group on the web but not view it, as part of that Library, on the client. Still, if I could import a static, one-off, list it would be something.

adamsmith

The save to Zotero button would be the standard button you use to import into Zotero from your browser, i.e. it's not part of the webpage but shows at the top right of your browser (provided you have the Zotero connector extension/add-on installed). Works fine for me on the page you link to.

DouglasMilnes

Oh, sorry, somehow I didn't even think it would be that one, which I've only used for the occasional single citation.

dstillman

The Save to Zotero button is the main way to add items to Zotero. If you're not using that regularly, I'd strongly encourage you to read through Adding Items to Zotero.

It doesn't make sense to me that I can view a public group on the web but not view it, as part of that Library, on the client.

We've talked about making it possible to subscribe to read-only libraries in the client. But that would be a rather convoluted way of just getting items from a public library once.