Create parent item & Retrieve metadata for PDF

wqmul

A recent change to Zotero means that if I rightclick a PDF and choose Create Parent Item..., it now asks for a DOI or the like, and I have to click Manaul Entry if I don't have that info.

Most of the PDFs I want to save to Zotero are NOT published articles, so there are no DOIs to enter.

Is a configuration option possible please to bypass the DOI box so that the parent item is automatically created on choosing Create Parent Item?

A separate but related issue is that once, for a few days, when I chose "Retrieve Metadata for PDF", if none could be found it would automatically create a parent item and attach the PDF to that. Maybe that was an experimental feature, but it isn't there anymore. Its absence, combined with the new requirement to input a DOI etc., really slows down the process of fully saving into Zotero any PDFs (most in my case) for which neither DOI nor metadata info is available.

It would be great if that option could be revived (so that users wouldn't even need to try to create a parent item, they could just select Retrieve and OK). Is that possible please?

Thank you.

wqmul

Hi, can anyone shed any light on the above please?

Thank you.

wqmul

Hallo I would appreciate if someone would answer my queries please even if it's "No there won't be any option to bypass having to enter a DOI"?

I had just renewed my Zotero storage for another year.

Thank you.

dstillman

https://www.zotero.org/support/forum_guidelines#be_patient

We read all posts, but not everything gets responded to right away.

This feature will likely be changed in a coming update to automatically create parent items for unsuccessful metadata-retrieval runs, with an option to populate the metadata by identifier at the top of the item pane. If you just start editing the metadata, the option will disappear.

for a few days, when I chose "Retrieve Metadata for PDF", if none could be found it would automatically create a parent item and attach the PDF to that

No, that was never implemented. I'd guess at least a title was detected in the PDF.

wqmul

Thank you Dan, and I'll wait a week or two next time - I was just concerned that my query had got buried!

Yes that update would be really helpful, especially if the requirement to populate the metadata by identifier isn't compulsory. At the moment I have to click away from it to create the item.

If it would be possible to include in the options the ability to choose NOT to be required to enter a DOI, just create the item, that would be great.

Thanks again.

wqmul

The update mentioned a year ago above doesn't seem to have happened.

Could someone please clarify when this update will be implemented, so that users can disable the option to enter a DOI and it goes straight to creating a parent item?

Thank you.

wqmul

Hi, would someone please answer this query - even if the answer is "Never, we've decided not to do this"?

My renewal has just gone through, I would like to know will I get a pro rated refund if I cancel due to this issue?

Thanks.

adamsmith

Zotero never provides ETAs for specific versions or features. Many things that are planned take more to than a year to be implemented.

wqmul

Thanks very much and I appreciate your reply @adamsmith

It's not so much implementing a future feature, as that in 2021 Zotero introduced a feature that I personally don't use, don't like, and want to disable (because it wastes my time - most of the PDFs I save don't have DOIs so having to click away from the DOI box every time I try to create a parent for a PDF really adds up in terms of the irritation factor as well as time). I've given it a year, by this point (my original query was a year ago as you'll have seen).

I've been using Zotero as a paying unlimited storage user for many years now. But if the "coming update" that @dstillman mentioned a year ago doesn't transpire by Feb 2023, I'll have to move to using another service rather than resubscribe.

Mostly Zotero has improved over the years, but this "feature" is a step backwards in my view. I'll have to start researching alternatives now.

internationaled

@dstillman wrote, "This feature will likely be changed in a coming update to automatically create parent items for unsuccessful metadata-retrieval runs, with an option to populate the metadata by identifier at the top of the item pane. If you just start editing the metadata, the option will disappear."

I really like this. I think it's a great idea to include a checkbox at the top to attempt to populate the item, or maybe even right-click an item to attempt a retrieval from a partially-completed parent item (e.g., Zotero would fill in volume and pages numbers and DOI based on what is currently in the parent item or PDF). This would be a real timesaver, I think. If the PDF isn't OCRed, you could add some hints in the parent item, like author name, article title, and journal name, and then Zotero could retrieve the rest of it.

(Sorry, I wasn't sure whether to start a new thread for or just respond to this one.)

eric_f

Hi all,

Any update on this feature? I'm also paying for Zotero storage. It was really easy to create a parent item for pdfs with no metadata before. I think it just used the filename as the name for the parent item. Thank you!

dstillman

It's still planned.

It was really easy to create a parent item for pdfs with no metadata before. I think it just used the filename as the name for the parent item.

To be clear, it's literally one more click, on "Manual Entry". Everything else works exactly the same — e.g., it uses the filename as the parent item.

If you never save metadata via the Zotero Connector (the standard way of saving to Zotero) and only ever add PDFs that don't have identifiers, I get that it would be slightly more annoying now to click that one extra button, but the idea that it's now somehow much harder to create a parent item is a bit bizarre.

eric_f

@dstillman
Manual entry works in this case! Thank you for the pointer and sorry for the hassle.