moving linked attachment base directory from windows to linux

postsapor · 2020-06-26T06:30:57+00:00

Before I do this, is there a best way to do this so that I don't break the path to the linked file attachments? In fact, I have all pdfs on an external drive, so I am not really moving the files, but the file structure relative to the data directory will change. Any advice is much appreciated.

Edit: I've changed the title to better reflect the issue

dstillman · 2020-06-26T08:21:47+00:00

https://www.zotero.org/support/preferences/advanced#linked_attachment_base_directory

postsapor · 2020-06-26T15:17:55+00:00

So, I've read this page a 100 times, and I am still not seeing how to do this. On my windows machine, the base directory pointed to a portable drive. On my linux machine (same machine but now with linux) it points to the same portable drive, but of course with a different path. So now, when I try to open a file I get an error message: The attached file could not be found at the following path: D:\...old windows path...

adamsmith · 2020-06-26T15:20:22+00:00

How did you move the database from Windows to Linux? Sync or copy?

adamsmith · 2020-06-26T15:21:00+00:00

(FWIW what you say you're doing sounds like it should work, so I don't think the problem is that you're not understanding the docs)

postsapor · 2020-06-26T15:22:04+00:00

Sync. I mean all I did was plug in the portable drive and point the base directory to it. The data directory is at default /home/user/Zotero which I sync with Zotero servers.

adamsmith · 2020-06-26T15:35:45+00:00

It sounds like the synced data still has Windows' absolute links.

Make sure that you do have a successful sync go through after changing the base directory on Windows.

postsapor · 2020-06-26T16:10:51+00:00

I do not have Windows on my machine anymore. Is there something I can do now that I have install Linux?

adamsmith · 2020-06-26T19:49:32+00:00

Use the Zutilo add-on to bulk change attachment paths:
https://github.com/willsALMANJ/Zutilo

postsapor · 2020-06-26T21:52:51+00:00

omg. That actually worked... I never want to do that again.

dstillman · 2020-06-26T21:54:00+00:00

To be clear, the way to avoid this is to set the Linked Attachment Base Directory now. Your linked files within that directory will then always be stored with relative paths, so if you switch to another computer you'll just need to set the base directory properly and you'll be able to access the files.