How to change existing file names and modify so that future file names match format.

NPopadiuk

Hello,

I'm a Canadian law student and most of my legal case law research comes from the following site:
https://www.canlii.org/en

I use the Zotero browser plugin to save case law to my library. However, I have now realized that the name formatting of the PDF's is incongruent with another application I'm trying to use. More specifically, the other application doesn't recognize the file path because of the spaces in the name:

For example, PDF's are presently being saved as:
"C:\Users\Nick_\Zotero\storage\BF4WRNWM\2001_Spectra Architectural Group v.pdf"

I need the spaces in the PDF file name eliminated or filed in with some text.

Two questions...
1) Is there any way to quickly rename or change the file names already in my zotero library so that the spacing is eliminated?
2) How do I modify my settings to ensure future files are automatically renamed without any spaces?



Thanks,
Nick

danielborek

yes, you might define the naming paterrn (replace blanks) via prefrences in Zotfile plugin, also for all you existing files, Zotfile will handle your future files too

dstillman

But if @NPopadiuk has "2001_Spectra Architectural Group v.pdf" then the file was likely saved directly without a parent item and without Zotero being able to identify the file. Zotero already renames all files saved via the Zotero Connector based on parent item metadata, and that filename is not following the format used. So even if one was going to use ZotFile for more customizable renaming, the first step would be making sure there's a parent item to actually hold the metadata.

(In general, though, I would say that it's ridiculous in 2022 to use any software that can't handle spaces in filenames, which have been supported in all major OSes for decades.)