Lost pdfs after copying library to new mac

edited October 24, 2021
About a year ago I received a new computer (macbook) for work, so I decided to copy over my original zotero library to it from my personal computer (also macbook). i thought everything transferred fine. I saw all the items and their attached pdfs (icons). As time went by I added new items into the new computer's library, but recently I discovered that when I try to open the attached pdfs in the items from the old library now zotero doesn't find the attachments, even thought it shows the pdf icon. Since the work computer with new library has many new items with attached pdfs I'd like to merge it back into my original library on my personal computer so I have one complete library with all linked pdfs intact. Soon I need to return the work computer and will start using my personal computer again. Please advise. Thanks.
  • How did you copy the library? And do the PDF files that don't open have a chain link as part of their icon or not?
  • edited October 24, 2021
    It was a long time ago so I forget how I copied/imported but very lkely I used the instructions found on this forum (rdf import?).

    When I compare an item with a functioning pdf attachment there is a solid blue dot in the link column, but for items without this it is a blue circle (empty dot).

    I still have my old library so ideally I suppose I would want to import/merge the new library into the older one and then delete the duplicates. I just don't want to loose the attachments of course.
  • Hello, can some respond to my question?
  • It's not clear what you did, so it's a bit hard to help you at this point.

    While an export will transfer files if you tell it to, it's not the correct way to transfer a library to another computer, as it would create new, duplicate items.

    The question about the chain was about the item type icon (the PDF icon), not the attachment presence indicator (the circle). That's one way to tell whether something is a stored or linked file.

    If you're saying you still have your original library stored on your personal computer, your best bet would be to sync to merge the libraries. Assuming you did use export, you could then sort the items list by Date Added and delete the entire set of duplicate items from that import (assuming you didn't add child notes or make metadata changes you want to keep). You can also use the Duplicate Items view to merge items.
  • I do not see a chain link on the icon, but the pdf icons for files that aren't found (from the older imported library) are faded in the new library.

    Would it be easiest at this point just to merge the new library back into the old one? Should I delete all the old items in the new library so I don't create too many duplicates when I import it back? Does this makes sense? If so, what's the procedure?

  • edited October 25, 2021
    As I say, you should sync, which will merge the items, and then deal with the duplicates.
  • ok, i will give it a try. fingers crossed.
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