Can I save my PDFs to a single folder?
I am just learning to use Zotero. I have figured out how to add ZotFile and rename PDFs from parent metadata. I notice that these PDFs, when imported and renamed from my "Downloads" folder, are sorted into folders with random 8-digit names within "C:\Users\Sarah\Zotero\storage". For example, "SerratX et al_2019_PLoS Genet.pdf" is in "C:\Users\Sarah\Zotero\storage\6YD4PSYF\". Is it possible to have my PDFs in a single folder (like C:\Users\Sarah\Zotero\storage\") so I can search more quickly through my list of PDFs by sorting all files alphabetically? This is something I used to do in Mendeley and it was very convenient. Alternatively, can I make it so the final folder name (e.g., "6YD4PSYF") is informative (e.g., renamed from parent metadata)?
If you do really want them in a human-readable folder structure, you have two main options:
1. You can just set up a saved search in Windows within the storage folder for PDFs -- that will give you all PDFs in a single folder: (see e.g. https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/88817-save-search-windows-10-a.html for saved searches)
2. You can set up ZotFile to move files as linked files to a different folder, where it is also able to add a folder structure. Note, though, that linked files aren't synced by Zotero and not available e.g. via the iOS app.
I have Zotfile installed and set "Location of Files" to a WebDAV volume. But no files are stored at the defined location. Having a hard time to tell what I am doing wrong or how to make this work.
Custom Location : /Volume/WebDAVname/zotero/PDF (shows with green checkmark)
Use subfolder defined by: /%w/%y (while that has an i for additional info I assume, clicking the "i" does nothing) so I am not sure what my options are with that field.
Maybe Zotero > Preferences > Advanced > Files and Folders
and Zotero > Tools > ZotFile Preferenecs > Locations and Files
are in conflict?
How do I know which setting is being followed? From my understanding both options exlude each other so it is very odd to have them both available at the same time. Again, I am very new to Zotero and documentation is hard to follow and more questions pop up in my mind than I find answers currently.
Then, the ZotFile preferences are what's relevant here. The Zotero files and folders preferences do not actually contradict them: One of them is for the data directory, which doesn't just include stored files, but also the database; the other one is for relative links, which can complement files linked via ZotFile when working on multiple computers.
ZotFile documentation, including what the various wildcards do, is here: http://zotfile.com/
To test whether ZotFile is working and generally able to move files, try manually moving an attached PDF using Manage Attachments --> Rename attached files.
This is awesome. Starting to get the idea slowly but surely.