Zotfile - Move web snapshot / Web-snapshot and cloud storage

djhayman02

Hello,

I am currently using zotfile to help organise my pdfs and doc files with cloud storage and it is working great.

I have recently install the zotero web connector to save web snapshots. The snapshots work OK when first saved but if I try to move the HTML file using zotfile, the images and website layout are not moved.

Is there are method to move over the additional information needed using zotfile? Has anyone else come up with a smooth workflow for saving web snapshots and syncing to cloud storage?

Thanks

dstillman

The smooth workflow is to use stored files and Zotero file syncing.

Using linked files for web snapshots doesn't make a lot of sense (at least beyond the goal of just not paying for Zotero Storage). The point of linked files is that you can store files elsewhere on disk, generally in a directory with other linked files that you can browse yourself outside of Zotero. Snapshots as currently implemented involve many auxiliary files and need to be in their own directories, and it can be hard to understand how to open them outside of Zotero, so they really only make sense as stored files in directories managed by Zotero.

djhayman02

Hi dstillman,

thanks for your response. My aim for seeing if it is possible to store web snapshots as linked files is so that i know where all of my material is stored for easy backup and sharing.

A browser plugin that can save the website as an image then importing that and linking it is currently my best idea so far.

Thanks!

frvc

In Zotero 5.0.93, SingleFile is used to save web pages into a single HTML file, so there are no auxiliary files that I know of. With ZotFile, you can right click and Manage Attachments > Rename Attachments to move the snapshot to your ZotFile directory and change its name according to ZotFile rules.

gazagoal

Is it still true what @frvc said? I tried to rename a snapshot HTML with Zotfile and Zotero prevented it saying it's skipped because it's a snapshot. Any other solution to move snapshots together? I need to batch process the snapshot HTML files. Thanks!

aislam

!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Caution: This method only moves the parent HTML file. If your snapshot has other items associated with .HTML (like js cs other HTML) they won't be renamed or move to the new location
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go to ZotFile Preferences>Advanced Settings > Add ',html' to the "Only work with the following filetypes"

This will rename and move the HTML files just like the PDFs.

G-Radiation

@aislam Thanks a lot, that's really helpful! I reckon the instances where a snapshot would contain more than an HTML file are quite rare. I checked out a handful of snapshot files and they were all a single HTML file. Do you see any exceptions to that?

dstillman

@G-Radiation: Older snapshots included multiple files. Current snapshots are single files.

hpfr

@aislam This doesn't seem to work in my experience. I have added ',html' to the filetype option and saving something with the Zotero Connector still results in the snapshot not being moved.

I also tried manually moving it once it was already in my library with the right-click menu option "Manage Attachments > Rename and Move", but as mentioned above, Zotfile skips it because it's a snapshot.

I also tried unchecking the filetype option to get Zotfile to move everything, but that didn't work either. It still seems to be an open issue https://github.com/jlegewie/zotfile/issues/566

ckharwood

Tested the solution from @aislam and it worked beautifully. To clarify what I did step-by-step as @hpfr had difficulties:

Step zero: I already had ZotFile settings configured to move and rename files, and have used this on PDFs successfully.

1. Installed the current Zotero Web Connector (which uses SingleFile) in Chrome. This added an extension button.
2. Per @aislam , went to ZotFile Preferences>Advanced Settings > Add ',html' (don't miss that comma!) to the "Only work with the following filetypes" setting. Clicking OK saved this setting.
3. Using the connector, save a snapshot to to library. This created a functioning, single-file, HTML copy of the intended web page in my library.
4. In Zotero, update the new item's metadata.
5. On the snapshot attachment: Right click > Manage Attachments > Rename and Move. ZotFile renamed the HTML file, moved it to the appropriate directory, and replaced the snapshot attachment with a linked file attachment.

guymi

The method as described by @ckharwood worked for me on my laptop. On my office desktop it didn't work for some reason. Setting are configured the same and ZotFile is routing all the files to the same cloud folder under the same naming scheme.

At least I know it is do able now. Thanks everyone for contributing.

nhan000

I'm probably asking for too much here, but is there a way for ZotFile to automatically perform the "Rename and Move" function without me having to trigger it manually? I usually forgot to do this.

hawaii529

@nhan000 - Yes there is. Under ZotFile Preferences, go to Advanced Settings. In the first dropdown menu, choose "Always rename" and then untick the "Ask user when attaching new files". Will happen automatically.