Links broken, "Locate" button missing

VR87

I see pretty all of the links of Zotero attachments are broken, perhaps after a reinstall.

In the past I used to click a "locate" button when this happened to point to the file.
I don't find this button anymore. It's not in the dialog that appears. Where should it be?

Zotero 5.0.85, macOS 10.13.6

dstillman

The Locate button should definitely still appear in the File Not Found dialog — if you're not seeing that, take a screenshot, upload it somewhere (e.g., Dropbox), and provide a link here — but you also shouldn't use it for something like this.

If all your linked files are broken, it means you moved the directory where they're located. The dialog tells you where it's looking for the file — that should help you figure out what happened. If you can explain, we can tell you how best to fix it.

(Generally, you want to have set a Linked Attachment Base Directory so that if you move the folder later, or you're on a different synced computer where it's at a different path, you can simply point that setting at the current location of the root folder.)

VR87

Unfortunately I see two differences with respect to what you're saying:
1) the dialog doesn't show the Locate button (I'm sure it did in the past, maybe an earlier version)
2) the dialog doesn't tell where it's looking for the file

screenshot of the dialog: https://imgur.com/a/dEt2Usu (clicking Ok does nothing)

currently I have all my Zotero attachments library in two folders under my Home folder on my Mac: Papers and Books. that's where Zotero should point.

dstillman

That means it's a linked file stored with a relative path but you don't currently have a valid Linked Attachment Base Directory set in the Advanced → Files and Folders pane of the preferences. There's no path to display, and it doesn't really make sense to locate a file when the problem is just that the Linked Attachment Base Directory isn't set.

VR87

Got it, thank you