Storage limit

bbuck009

I'm a new user and have just imported about 100 pdfs into my library, which doesn't seem like very much. But my account says that I'm exceeded my storage quota. I've merged duplicates and deleted the trash. I've also changed syncing to 'as needed'. Since doing this, my account has registered no difference in the quota used. I don't know what to do to proceed. Please help!

adamsmith

Note that the storage limit is not a limit on using Zotero. It's a limit on the amount of attachment files you can sync for free to the Zotero server. With that limit at 300MB, it's absolutely possible that you'd get there with 100 PDFs. Syncing as needed only affects downloads, so that wouldn't affect your storage quota ever. Merging duplicates and emptying the trash would, but only if that gets your total below 300MB, which it likely didn't.

Your choices are to disable file sync, find a webDAV provider with more free storage and use that, or to pay for Zotero file storage.

bbuck009

Thanks so much for getting back to me - am a bit lost as a newbie to this. I don't understand how the storage works. I have a Dropbox account - can I link Zotero to that and take the pdfs out of the Zotero library? But if I do that, doesn't that mean I can't use the data to manage bibliographies and references?

adamsmith

You can't easily use Dropbox with Zotero (it's possible, but requires some set-up & a number of downsides). See https://www.zotero.org/support/sync to understand syncing.

Just to reiterate the _only_ functionality you pay for in Zotero is the ability to sync attachments to the Zotero server (and thus between devices). Regardless of the size of your library, you can sync item information ("metadata") between devices for free and you can use the local tool to manage references and create bibliographies.

Are you working on multiple devices? Is attachment sync important to your workflow?

Gurdas_Sandhu

If you let Zotero manage and store the PDF, then it is placed in the Storage sub-folder in your Zotero folder. You can still choose not to sync your PDFs and that way you won't consume the online storage space. Again, note that you can sync unlimited article entries, it's just the attachment files that consume online storage.

On the other hand you can use the "attach link to file" feature and in this case the PDF can be anywhere on your computer, including your Dropbox storage. The upside is the PDFs are stored per your existing folder schema and you are limited only by the storage limit of your Dropbox account. The downside is that these PDFs will not show up in your online Zotero (because Zotero is not storing them for you). If you go this route, it is best to configure the storage location through the base file path option. I have been using this method for years and it has worked almost flawlessly for me. I have about 3000 PDFs.

adamsmith

I would say the main downsides are that you can't add items with files to groups, that any-API based tools (including existing and future mobile apps) don't have access to the files and that deleting items in Zotero won't delete them on your harddisk.

It's fine if you're going to go that way -- that's why it's possible -- but gurdas is definitely a minority among power users to use the Dropbox set-up and that's for a reason.

lauragayle

Thank you for this discussion and information, adamsmith. I work with a lot of graduate students who are Zotero converts and as you can imagine, they run up against the server storage space quite often. They're usually so enthusiastic about the ability to save the citation information and PDF attachments and haven't quite thought through the storage issue.

Of course, I just double checked how much space I'm using and if I need to add more storage to my Zotero account... Good for now.