Not using local data as chief source for storing pdfs

andrewlamprecht

I've paid quite a bit for the top-of-the-range Zotero storage plan in the hope that I can store my PDFs to the Zotero "cloud" rather as part of a huge conglomerated file on my PC. Is there a simple setting for this? In the worst case, can I store my PDFs on, say, DropBox, with full search functionality, whilst also having them mirrored on Zotero's online service and, again, not having them on my PC's hard-drive?

dstillman

If you're fully in sync — meaning you can access all your items and files online — and you've set Zotero to download files "as needed" in the Sync pane of the preferences, you can just use your file manager to search for all PDFs within the Zotero data directory and delete them to free up local space. (Don't delete the parent directories.) Zotero will re-download them if you try to open them again.

A future version will provide ways to automatically purge local files to free up space and let you control how much space should be used locally.