Convert Link to file attachments into copy of file attachment?

AnatoliaSmith · March 15, 2019

How to batch convert Link to file attachments into copy of file attachment?
Is there a way to batch convert attachments on items that are "Link to file" into "Store Copy of file"?

I migrated from Mendeley, so all my existing items have attachments as "Link to file". I have 400+ items, and I would like Zotero to no longer have a "Link to file", but store a copy that is Zotero internally manages.

bwiernik · March 17, 2019

This is in the works: https://github.com/zotero/zotero/issues/1637

dstillman · August 19, 2019

I've just pushed out a new Zotero beta that includes this feature as File → Manage Attachments → "Convert Linked Files to Stored Files…".

If you want to help test this out, you should temporarily disable auto-sync and make a backup of your Zotero data directory (and, if you use the "Delete original files after storing" option, your PDF directory) before trying it, and then closely review the converted files before turning syncing back on. Let us know if you run into any problems.