How are documents saved on PC?

gael_berard

Hello :)
I was wondering something. I spend loads of time reading papers and taking notes on Zotero. And it feels weird to be dependent to the software...
Just so I can feel better, how are all the files saved on my computer? I mean... for the PDFs, they appear quite obviously in the Zotero>storage folder, but how about the notes? How can I find them on my PC?
Thank you in advance for your answers! :)

adamsmith

The notes aren't individual files. They're part of the Zotero database, which in turn is an .sqlite file (zotero.sqlite in the Zotero folder).
That's the main reason you should make sure to have a good back-up of the entire folder (or rather -- your entire hard disk): https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data#backing_up_your_zotero_data

Obviously Zotero won't remove access to your notes, but FWIW, sqlite is also an open file format that you can (with some effort) read and transfer with free software.

gael_berard

Thank you a lot, I feel more comfortable to use Zotero daily :)
Have a good day