Upgrade StorageHow to add an existing library (actual pdfs) to Zotero
Hi,
I followed the documentation for importing metadata from Papers 3 to Zotero. That worked (although some info is deficient) but what I really need is all my pdfs in Zotero.
That could perhaps be done by attaching files via "attach stored copy of file..." but with 22.500 pdfs, that's impracticle. The matter is made worse by the fact that the imported .bib file doesn't seem to transfer sufficient info in many cases, so that items, even though metadata are present, cannot be used for citing.
Bottomline: How do I get Zotero populated with actual pdfs that are already sitting on my harddrive? Drag and drop? And then retrieve metadata for every item?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
I followed the documentation for importing metadata from Papers 3 to Zotero. That worked (although some info is deficient) but what I really need is all my pdfs in Zotero.
That could perhaps be done by attaching files via "attach stored copy of file..." but with 22.500 pdfs, that's impracticle. The matter is made worse by the fact that the imported .bib file doesn't seem to transfer sufficient info in many cases, so that items, even though metadata are present, cannot be used for citing.
Bottomline: How do I get Zotero populated with actual pdfs that are already sitting on my harddrive? Drag and drop? And then retrieve metadata for every item?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
https://github.com/retorquere/zotero-folder-import
If you install BBT before import, the results will likely have imported more data -- in principle, nothing should get lost.
The folder import will trigger "fetch metadata" automatically, but if these PDFs are already pointed to by your bib file, you will probably want to let BBT do the import.
Thank you very much. I'm trying importing the pdfs into a clean (empty) zotero library now.
Only that the folder import doesn't look up metadata; for 20.000+ items, that's quite a bit of work. Unfortunately, there seems to be no easy way to match the imported metadata with the actual pdfs.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EARLY COLONIAL MAYA NEW YEAR'S CEREMONIES AND SOME ALMANACS IN THE MADRID CODEX
10.1017/S0956536100111034
If you drag the PDF on Zotero and you get metadata, but not when you use folder import, that's something I can look at. Anything else is out of my hand.
Thank you very much for your help. To clarify:
1) I imported the files, not merely link to them.
2) While doing the folder import, Zotero did not check for metadata. For no pdf.
The box seen in the image did not appear.
3) When I drag files to Zotero, i.e. not do the folder import via the plug-in, Z does retrieve metadata, the box appears (if I drag multiple files).
4) Yes, of course some files get a red x, mostly because they do not contain OCR'ed text or because the first pages do not contain sufficient info.
So, during the first import via the plug-in, no metadata whatsoever were retrieved because Z apparently didn't attempt it.
It might seem like nitpicking but I'm trying to make sure I understand what's happening on your system; during the import, no metadata retrieval happens. After the last file is imported, if any pdfs were imported, the PDF metadata retrieval window ought to pop up. If you followed this scenario and got no retrieval window I'll have to debug your situation, but I'd prefer to do that on github.
Just to make sure:
When I do this I consistently get metadata retrieval.
I did 1., 2., 3. (opting for "store")
And I tried again with a folder containing far less files. It worked!
So something specific must have been amiss during the first large import.
The internet connection was cut during the import and only re-established after a few hours. Could that be the reason (if so sorry for the bother!)
If you get the problem, can you go into Help -> Debug output logging -> view output and put the result in pastebin or somesuch?
Would you be OK with bringing the discussion to an issue on the github project? My debugging infra centers around GH's issue tracking.
Moving to github is fine.