What happens to the attachment when the reference is deleted?

Bourde

I want to remove a large amount of references. I wondered if the attachments would be delete also (which is my aim as well). Unfortunately, I tried with a few references and noticed that the attachments remain in disk after the reference is removed from Zotero. Is there an option to remove these attachments if they are homeless?

mjthoraval

Stored files should be deleted when you empty the bin with Stored Files, but not with Linked Files:
https://www.zotero.org/support/attaching_files#stored_files_and_linked_files

Bourde

Thanks. I am using ZotFile, so attachments are moved automatically to a different folder, so I suppose it doesn't work with ZotFile? The only reason I use ZotFile is because it doesn't create a complex weird-name folder structure with subfolders but keeps a clean folder with PDFs that you can automatically also regroup into subfolders with year labels, etc., unlike the Zotero default Stored Files system.

tim820

Use the Delitem add-on to delete linked attachments (with or without their associated item), via right click menu.
https://github.com/redleafnew/delitemwithatt

Bourde

Interesting. I will have a look. Thanks.

[...]

It works perfectly, thanks!

Dellu

Delitem addons is amazing. It has made a huge difference on my work flow. It would be nice if sb adds it to the official list of addons so that other users will find it as well.