How to fix zotfile unable to find path for pdf reader

Shabnan · July 28, 2019

I extracted the Table of Contents for a PDF using zotfile. When I click on the link for a certain section, a pop-up with this message comes up: "Unable to find path for PDF Reader. Please set path manually in hidden preferences (see zotfile documentation)"

I saw the earlier post about accessing hidden preferences via about;config. However, when I accessed the "extensions.zotfile.pdfExtraction.openPdfWin" there was no value there to start with, so deleting the string value wasn't an option.

Later, after re-setting microsoft edge as my default pdf viewer, clicking on the links didn't even bring the pop-up anymore; nothing happens, it still isn't working.

Mark.E · September 13, 2019

As far as I know, there's no way to get Zotfile to open PDFs using a "modern" Windows app (i.e., the kind of app you find in the Microsoft store, and where there's no .exe file in "C:\Program Files" to launch the program). So that rules out Microsoft Edge (and my own preferred/default PDF reader, Drawboard).

I've always had a "backup" PDF reader (I use Foxit, but Acrobat should work as well), which I use for opening PDFs from Zotfile. Interestingly, I just tested it after not using this feature for a while, and I'm finding it's not working at all for me. So there may be some other issue here as well. But again, I don't think there's a way to get it to use Edge, even when everything's working properly.

(I'd be happy to be corrected if I'm wrong about this.)

dstillman · September 14, 2019

No, we don't believe it's possible to set a UWP app as the handler (in terms of the PDF reader setting in Zotero, but the ZotFile setting would be the same):

https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/72491/how-to-set-a-windows-store-uwp-app-drawboard-as-custom-pdf-viewer-in-zotero