Viewing PDF attachments via web

wayneholmes

Hi, new to Zotero, very excited about possibilities, but confused...
I have set up a webDav account at box.net, and setup zotero preferences to sync to it. Just trying a single PDF at the moment. The green arrow spins, and a file appears in my zotero box.net folder. I then log on to my zotero web account, where I can see my document listed, together with its PDF. I click on the PDF title, which is a link, and am taken to a new page with info about the PDF... but no PDF. Should I be able to open the PDF from my zotero web page, or do I have to go to box.net (which doesn't seem likely as the PDF within the zip file appears to have been encoded)? I'm just keen to be able to open my PDF from another computer via the web. Is this possible? Many thanks!

wayneholmes

Sorry, forgot to say, using version 2.0b6.4.
Thanks.

adamsmith

short answer - no, not possible. You can transfer your files to another computer this way (i.e by syncing that computer's zotero) but you can't open them from the web.

wayneholmes

That's a shame! But thanks for your speedy response. I'll just have to get myself a laptop! Many thanks.

Bionatsci

Or you could run firefox portable from a usb pen drive on any computer (except those with restrictive security settings) - and sync this just like you would if syncing two computers.

Bionatsci

Actually thought I better add a health warning to my last post - I can see no reason why you wouldn't be able to do what I proposed, but I don't know the technicalities, and can find no examples of anyone doing this, successfully or otherwise, on this forum.

I can't guarantee that nothing bad will happen if you try this, up to and including minor explosions ;)

jmiller

Another wonderful option I've discovered is dropbox (http://www.getdropbox.com).

It's really simple: Copy your Zotero storage folder to your dropbox folder and then change your storage location (in Preferences>Advanced) to this folder. The dropbox folder is on the web. If you have Zotero and dropbox installed on multiple computers you can have teh same files everyewhere. You can access your pdfs on the web.

You get 2GB free. For an extra 0.25 GB (for you and me) use this link http://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTE0NjQ0ODE5 .

Also described on these posts:
http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/4115/do-your-backups/?Focus=30344#Comment_30344
http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/5951/cant-sync-with-mydiskse-secure-webdav/?Focus=28619#Comment_28619
http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/5527/export-to-another-computer/?Focus=27644#Comment_27644

wayneholmes

Well that all seemed really straightforward! Many thanks for the tip. And pleased to be able to get you your extra 0.25Gb!
Many, many thanks.

Budizz

Hello,
(I'm using version 2.0.9)
This comment is not exactly linked to the provious, but is it possible to open the pdf file stored in Zotero library directly with a pdf viewer without using a web browser. For me it would be an important things to do because I'm anotating my pdf and I want to save my anotated pdf where Zotero store them. Is that possible? (sorry for my frenchglish)

adamsmith

Budizz - please don't post in unrelated threads - when in doubt, better to open a new one. As for your questions, have a look at the "Launch non-native Files" hidden pref:
http://www.zotero.org/support/hidden_prefs#general_preferences

Budizz

Thanks a lot "Adam Smith" (it doesn't seem like the father of capitalism fits well with the development of open source software, no??). Worked perfectly. A reason less (for me) to use End Note!

Do you think it worths starting a new thread for copying my question and your answer?

Thanks

Christian

ajlyon

Don't bother creating a new thread. Glad this worked for you.