Upgrade StorageZotero does not link local pdfs
I am trying to convert from mendeley and have some problems with local pdfs in zotero. In mendeley I could watch a folder and every pdf in that folder would be imported, formatted, and sent to my library. I have zotero configured now that it could read the pdfs from a folder, but it only captures the reference, it does not link the local pdf. Is there a way to achieve this?
For example, I have a pdf without a reference, let's say I am reviewing a thesis of some kind, then I want zotero to create a header with the title, extract the author and link the pdf to that ref without doing manual intervention.
For example, I have a pdf without a reference, let's say I am reviewing a thesis of some kind, then I want zotero to create a header with the title, extract the author and link the pdf to that ref without doing manual intervention.
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In Zotero, you generally add items from the web, which downloads metadata and saves a PDF if available, storing the file in its own storage.
If you only have a PDF on disk — say, because you received it via email — you can drag it to Zotero, which will try to retrieve metadata for it and copy the PDF into its own storage. You can then delete the original copy on disk.
It's also possible to use linked files, generally with the help of the ZotFile extension. But ZotFile will convert the default stored files into linked files in a location of your choosing — it doesn't just link them where they exist now. (You can do that manually in Zotero, but it'd be tedious, and not a recommended workflow.) If you have a file on disk that you were adding to Zotero, it would generally be in a temporary folder such as a download folder, and you would drag it to Zotero — resulting in either a stored file or a linked file in a configured directory — and then delete it.
- Watch ~/[target_folder] (automatic)
- Download a pdf to ~/[target_folder] (manual)
- extract metadata and copy pdf with cleaned title to the zotero library (automatic)
I have ZotFile installed, however it does not do the above. I receive manuscripts from students or other pdfs that I need to manage that I wish to put into zotero so that I can easily search for them at some later time or attach other things relating to them. Currently zotero only imports the cleaned information without linking the pdf. With linking I specifically mean the cleaned pdf inside the zotero library folder (under ~/Zotero)
If you're absolutely committed to downloading files yourself to a specific permanent folder and then linking those, from that location, into Zotero, it's certainly possible to do that, either via dragging with a system-standard modifier key or using Link to File. There are just better ways to add files to Zotero.
Let's say I have some folder; Reading_group_thermal_dynamics, how can I instruct Zotero to link pdf files locally without manual inputting the files with the gui? i.e. watching the folder as outlined above?
Zotero is designed to work a certain way. That may not be precisely how you think it should work, or how some other tool works, but that doesn't mean there aren't reasons it works the way it does or that it's somehow a less capable tool. Zotero makes it trivial to add PDFs from your browser or disk and have those files be copied to a managed folder of your choice — the keyword being "managed", which means it's not a folder where you're directly saving files yourself, which can create a mess. It's absurd to say it can't manage your files when that's exactly what it's designed to do, and when millions of people from across all fields use it to do just that.
Again, Zotero doesn't have watch-folder functionality, because that's not a workflow we recommend — you're either saving files to a browser download folder, in which case there's no reason to think that every PDF should be automatically added to Zotero, or you're wasting time manually choosing an organized folder to save files to, when that's something Zotero and ZotFile can automate for you, in a way that will work the same whether you're saving from the browser or from disk.
ZotFile does have an function to add the most recently modified file in a given folder, so you might be interested in that option if you're frequently downloading files to disk — again, to a downloads folder, not the final location — without being able to save them or their article pages to Zotero from the browser.
This seems to be a childish response. I am quite serious in what I am asking. There are numerous of previous posts on this forum specifically that has similar requests in the past. Not all workflows are considered to be going from browser -> zotero.
Saying things like "this isn't the way to think about Zotero" is very peculiar to me, there is no reason for such austerity.
A simple answer like Zotero doesn't support that feature but we are welcome a plugin that would implement this feature would suffice. In addition I would like to add that the Zotfile extension "watched folder" implementation does not actually work since version 5. Hence, my question on this issue.
I am closing this issue now as apparently it is difficult for you to remain professional. Hopefully, the posterity can help me or a feature does get implemented in the future.