using Zotero on network/cloud drives

hans.messersmith

Hi: my group has been having many problems using EndNote on network/cloud drives. I was wondering how Zotero handles this? Is it possible to use Zotero if the data is stored on Sharepoint drives, for example? How does this work?

This would be the major reason for our group to switch to Zotero.

adamsmith

Most database files don't like it when you store them on network drives that allow simultaneous access. That's true for Zotero just as much as it is for Endnote (or Mendeley, etc.).

That's why Zotero has sync options, though.

dstillman

Some people do store their Zotero data directory on a network drive successfully, but it really depends on the specifics of the setup, and we do occasionally get reports of problems. You can try it, but you'd want to be sure you're making regular automated backups of any data directories stored there. You'd also want to make sure the same Zotero database isn't ever opened on more than one computer at once — in theory that should be prevented automatically, but network drives don't always enforce the file locks that make this safe in a normal filesystem.

The data directory should absolutely never be stored in a cloud storage directory like Dropbox. That's essentially guaranteed to corrupt your database.