Zotero File Storage Confusion

tbernier

I've recently installed Zotero and am trying to decide how to best manage my document storage. I have two separate research projects underway, with all my existing documents for one group stored in a OneDrive account, while all documents for another project stored on Google Drive. The OneDrive account has the docs that would ultimately be in My Library while the documents in Google Drive will be used in a Group Library and shared with other researchers.

I've read a lot about the pros/cons of using cloud storage such as Google Drive and given I have 2 completely separate cloud storage systems in place, and fear losing link connections if any of my folder structures change inadvertently. I feel like it would be better to pay for the Zotero file storage instead and let Zotero manage ALL of my data. The cost is really not that prohibitive for unlimited storage.

So if I go the route of using Zotero file storage, are there settings to ensure it's doing just that? I see that as I experiment and add items to Zotero, they are getting stored locally on my computer under C:\Users\\Zotero. Doesn't this mean my local hard drive would eventually fill up?

How do I ensure that Zotero is managing my file storage?

dstillman

Letting Zotero manage your storage really is as simple as dragging files in. You would normally then delete the originals. (At all times, but obviously during the transition in particular, you'd want to make sure you had a backup of all your files in case something goes wrong.)

Doesn't this mean my local hard drive would eventually fill up?

Not inherently. Files that are "in" Google Drive or OneDrive would normally be stored on your local disk anyway. I'm not sure if one or both have a mechanism for automatically deleting local copies of files when you're low on space, but generally cloud storage folders are still just local folders on your system that happen to sync, so you may very well already be using the full local space.

(It's also possible to delete local copies of Zotero files on disk after they've been uploaded, but that's not currently really a recommended workflow. A future version will let you specify how much space you want to dedicate to the local file cache and manage the space automatically for you.)

summerday12

I for one cannot wait for this option to cap local space for files! I have turned into a super user and I am now eating up space on my hard drive. Please prioritize the option to cap local file cache. (I will refrain from deleting my local copies, an option I was about to do.)