The attached file could not be found. It may have been moved or deleted outside of Zotero

kpmaynard

Report ID: 1213414643

It appears that a PDF file stored in Zotero using one computer is not accessible on a second computer.

This is true whether the file was stored using the link or the "store a copy of file"

Error message received is the topic of this discussion.

Regards,

Keith Maynard

adamsmith

how did you get the data from one computer to the other?

kpmaynard

Hi adamsmith, I am using Zotero sync. I would store the pdf file on computer 1 and attempt to access the file on computer 2. That is when I would receive the error reported.
The converse is true. If I store a pdf file on computer 2, I am unable to access the file on computer 1, via the Zotero sync mechanism.

adamsmith

For that to work you would also have to sync the files.
http://www.zotero.org/support/sync#file_syncing
if you have this turned on and do not receive any error message while syncing, then something is actually going wrong.

kpmaynard

Ah hah, so do I need to set up a webdav server account somewhere if I am interested in synching files to zotero?

adamsmith

either that or sync through Zotero - they'll give you 100MB for free and will let you purchase more (though the latter is not possible yet).
http://www.zotero.org/support/storage_faq

chakumar

I have a big collection of references on Zotero. For some reason, I uninstalled it and then re-installed it...now the connection with the PDFs is lost, and I get the message "The attached file could not be found. It may have been moved or deleted outside of Zotero." Can you please advise how to re-connect the references to the PDFs? Will i need to rebuild the library...not looking forward to that :(

adamsmith

use the Zutilo tool to see where Zotero is looking for the attachment
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/zutilo-utility-for-zotero/
with that info we might be able to tell you more.

chakumar

Thanks!...so, i got Zutilo. am able to see the tab in Zotero, now what do I do?!

adamsmith

In the Zutilo preferences, enable Show Attachment for either the Zotero or the Zutilo context menu, then select an attachment in question, right-click and select Show Attachment Paths, which is now available as an option.

chakumar

Ok...Show Attachment Paths returns the name of the pdf file, not the path...for example, Storage:Anti-PD-1_PD-L1 therapy in different cancers_Ribas_BJC.pdf

adamsmith

no, that's a relative path (it's looking in Zotero's storage folder), so that's the info I was looking for.

You'd have to provide more info on why you re-installed and what else changed in the meantime. E.g. did you refresh Firefox? Normal re-install wouldn't lose your attachments.

mwaqas514

Hi, I have same problem, I got new window on my laptop and later on I got lost my connections to all of PDF files. it says
It may have been moved or deleted outside of Zotero.
Locate?

what does it mean and how can i get my connections to attachments?

adamsmith

It means that Zotero can't find the attachments. How did you restore your Zotero library after re-installing (updating?) Windows?

rvargasgiron

Hi, my laptop got robbed so I purchased a new one. Now I´m trying to acces to my pdf files in Zotero and I got the same message. I have the metadata but did I lost all my pdf files???

adamsmith

It's possible they didn't sync online, yes -- remember you only have 300MB free space online (i.e. enough for ~100 files), so if you never paid for more storage, your files likely didn't sync (you'd have received an error message to that extent).