1 Zotero database - multiple members - permissions

buerobass

Dear Zotero forum participants

I'm not quite sure I understood the logic with Zotero users and cloud database.

As I read in the Storage FAQ, any member of a group can access my database.
https://www.zotero.org/support/storage_faq#how_do_i_allocate_storage_between_my_personal_library_and_my_groups
That means, it is enough if 1 user buys e.g. unlimited storage from Zotero.
I can then add the other users (usernames) so that they can access this storage.
To do this, the user must enter the access data for this storage in his settings, right?
Can I then also assign rights to the users so that they can create publications or create their own folders?
At the same time, these users may only have read access to certain folders to ensure that nothing can be changed there.

Or is that only possible if I buy a Zotero Lab?
If this is only possible with Zotero Lab, does every user have their own Zotero database? We do not want that. We only want 1 database and every user should
- have read-only access to certain folders
- create folders/publications themself and grant permissions to them

Which is the right way?

Thank you very much and best regards
Georges Burkhalter

emilianoeheyns

1 user with unlimited will do the job.

buerobass

Thank you very much for the answer.

If I open a 2nd user I can invite him to a group. That works.

But if the 2nd user opens a folder, then I do not see that with my user, because he does that in his account and it is created in his database.

But I want all users to work in the same database.

emilianoeheyns

The users must work in the group, not their own database, and have sync on.

buerobass

ok, now it seems clear ;-) thank you!

dstillman

You can't make certain collections read-only within a given library, though. Permissions can only be set at the whole-library level.

emilianoeheyns

I had missed that.

buerobass

But what is not possible is that the users can access the same database at the same time. Is this the difference to Zotero Labs?

emilianoeheyns

You mean the same local database? That is indeed not possible.

buerobass

we have the zotero-database on our own server. all employees should be able to access this database. that means, at zotero there is no possibility for all employees to work with the same zotero-database simultaneously?

emilianoeheyns

This depends on what you mean by "zotero database on the server". If you mean you have a local zotero data server (which from what I hear is not trivial to set up -- if you have this, you'd know) with which several separate Zotero-client installations sync, that would work.

If you mean that you have a terminal server with one client profile into which Zotero is installed, and this one profile is in simultaneous use by multiple people, that will not work.

But in your initial question, you asked about a cloud database, so I assumed you were discussing the scenario where you had multiple installations of the Zotero client (one for each user), which sync to the Zotero-hosted data server. That will work. Collections will not show up instantaneously for other users, but should soon after creation if you have continuous sync set up (which I believe is the default when setting up sync).

buerobass

In the Zotero settings under Files and Folders, a separate storage path is entered under Storage Location. This refers to our in-house data server. The Zotero database is stored there.
I have also entered this storage path for the other users. So they are accessing the same Zotero database.
That's what I mean by accessing the same Zotero database at the same time.
When the users are online in their Zotero account, they can access the group folders they are members of and create entries there.
Sorry, I had to understand how this works. Hope it's not too much of a mess with my questions now ;-)

dstillman

You're going to corrupt your database by doing that. You absolutely shouldn't point the data directory to a shared server location.

dstillman

@buerobass: If multiple people are sharing a database, you need to use Zotero syncing. There's no other way to do it that's safe.

This has nothing to do with a lab subscription, which provides cloud storage for synced attachment files in people's individual libraries when using Zotero syncing.

buerobass

thank you!