Understanding how Zotero stores files

dstillman

This discussion was created from comments split from: opening/retrieving and saving linked files.

philosophical

Hi, since my issue is similar to this one, I thought I'd post here without opening a new thread (let me know if this was not a good choice). I am basically just trying to understand how Zotero works. I am using it on 2 Windows computers. Are the pdf files stored on each of these computers? Or are they stored online on a Zotero server? Sometimes I am getting an error message that says

The attached file could not be found at the following path:

C:\Users\Tony\Dropbox\zotero trial\The Journal of Ethics2020\Bjorn,Link to external site - 2020 - A Dilemma for Privacy as Control.pdf

It may have been moved or deleted outside of Zotero, or a Linked Attachment Base Directory may be set incorrectly on one of your computers.

I am getting this message when trying to open the file from my work computer and the folder "Tony" only exists on my home computer.

I guess maybe my question is: on each of the two computers, what should I set the following settings to:

1) Linked attachment base directory

Zotero will use relative paths for linked file attachments within the base directory, allowing you to access files on different computers as long as the file structure within the base directory remains the same.

Base Directory: ??what should I choose here??


2) Data Directory

Here I have two options
a) default C:/Users/Outreach/Zotero
b) custom

??which of the two should I choose here??

Thanks

adamsmith

Do you use Zotfile? If so, with what settings? If not, it looks like you linked the above file, - was that on purpose?

dstillman

@philosophical: You should always open a new thread when in the slightest doubt. I've split this off.

Before going further, make sure you've read through Stored Files and Linked Files.