ZotFile - Advanced PDF management for Zotero
This is an old discussion that has not been active in a long time. Before commenting here, you should strongly consider starting a new discussion instead. If you think the content of this discussion is still relevant, you can link to it from your new discussion.
This discussion has been closed.
-There are multiple attachments of the same type. (E.g. two attached PDF files)
-The filename already follows the Zotero convention
Can Zotfile support this use case? I have two libraries with 3000 and 5000 items each. Does the library size cause a problem?
Despite reading "For Zotero Standalone, first download the 1.6.4 extension file from here" (at http://www.columbia.edu/~jpl2136/zotfile.html#install)
there is no 1.6.4 under that link.
So, no Standalone compat.
Staying patient....
--Malcolm
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/zotfile/versions/
Let me know if it disappears. Then I will upload the xpi file somewhere else until the problem with Mozilla gets fixed.
@mronkko: No, zotfile does not support that case. 1) is the problem because there currently is no way to exclude these files from the renaming process (2 shouldn't matter, I think). Do you link or import attachments? Imported attachments can have the same name and zotfile adds 2,3,4... for linked attachments to the end of the file names.
You can give it a try yourself. Shouldn't be a big deal considering that you know the zotero api from your own plugin and I am willing to help. Otherwise, I can make a small modification but that might take a while. In theory, 3000-5000 items shouldn't be problem. I just haven't tried it and only remember one report here on the forum from someone who renamed such a large library. I would back-up before you try though. And let me know whether everything worked out in any case.
In my case, if there are two attachements of the same type, these are practically always scanned books. One chapter in one file, and the files are named based on the chapter title. I would not like to rename these.
I will probably take a look at this some time in the future and then post the results here.
I'm chomping at the bit to try it out, as this looks like it will solve my frustrations with having all my files buried in some far-away "storage" folder with endless subfolders.
Joel
(my ftp client is making problems right but i will try to provide another link later)
~Malcolm
Change
for (var j=0; j < attachments.length; j++) attIDs.push(attachments[j]);
to
if(attachments.length==1) attIDs.push(attachments[0]);
You can make further changes for your 'attachments of the same type' criteria. But maybe this is already sufficient. I haven't tried it but it should work.
I've just copied this post across from the zotero forums:
I tried the experimental but extremely useful duplicates removal option [extensions.zotero.debugShowDuplicates] and zotfile stopped working. When I clicked on "change name" or "push to reader", nothing happened.
This resolved when I stopped using the duplicate option. Not a big problem, but I thought you might like to know :)
Thanks very much for creating zotfile - a brilliant add-on! I use it every day.
Could I also drop in a couple of feature requests?
1. I always rename attachments (in my case pdf files from pubmed etc) and the push them to the reader folder. It would be great if there was a one-click option to do both tasks
2. To be even lazier, I'd like all imported pdf files to be automatically renamed and sent to the reader, no questions asked. I know this won't be popular with everyone, but it would be good to have an option like this.
Thanks again!
feature requests: Actually, I always intended zotfile reader to rename attachments when they are moved to the reader. So it's kind of a bug and I fixed it in zotfile 2.0, which provides a preference for renaming attachments when they are moved to the tablet. It's still a testing version but there are a lot of new features and other bugs from zotfile reader got fixed. You can get the version here and I would be happy to hear whether everything works:
http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/18737/2/zotfile-reader-zotero-plugin-to-work-with-tablet-ipad-android-tablets-etc/#Comment_104000
2) This would require a second expandable menu to provide all the subfolder options, which I think is getting to messy...
Is that possible? I'd really use this a lot if I could use it to copy my PDFs, not move them. Thanks!
http://www.columbia.edu/~jpl2136/PDFTools/code.zip
A really great plug-in, first of all. I have been trying to format renaming pattern and run into a problem. Is there a way to make something optional? In Zotero renaming patterns { } are used with the intention to include only if this field is not empty. Is there anything like that in Zotfile? The problem is when I add %v and there is no volume number for certain publications, I end up having two spaces in the file name.
Again, thanks for all your great work. I very much appreciate it.
-Jeff
Are you running zotfile 2.0beta3 on Windows? Foreground or background mode (if that doesn't tell you anything it's most likely background)?
Thanks for the great work you have done with ZotFile. I've been using it for a while (often in combination with zotfile reader) and I have a couple of suggestions to improve the addon:
1)would it be possible that when ZotFile renames pdfs that it could automatically remove all the accents and other strange characters often found in authors' names? strange accents in the filenames keep giving me an "unicoding error" when I move them to dropbox
2) would it be possible to rename the file with even more options? and here I am thinking about renaming files with "Last Name, First Name," (or even "Last Name, Initial of First Name") since quite a few of my references share very common last names...
3) would it be possible to customize what replaces the ":" or "."?
Again, thank you for all the great work you have done with ZotFile, and I hope this helps.
Best,
Sergio
1.
Now that Zotfile works on multiple systems, one thing that wasn't immediately obvious is that you have to manually configure the subfolders on every system on which you install Zotfile. If there would be a way for Zotfile to read in a custom folder structure that would be great. Conceivably, this might involve a check whether the selected folder is empty or not (and when not, replicate the folder structure in the Zotfile preferences on the basis of the existing folders). Or perhaps you would be able to piggyback on the Zotero sync to transfer that information.
2.
Some comments about the wording in the Scan Tablet dialog: Suggested changes in wording:
- "Attachment X was modified on the tablet. What do you want to do?" (to make clear where the modified file is)
- "Update Zotero file and leave on tablet" (to make clear that the file stays on the tablet)
- "Update Zotero file and remove from Tablet" (to make clear that removing it from the tablet still updates the Zotero file)
- I think "Cancel" should be the last, or rightmost, option.
Somehow this is still not perfect but I think this wording would at least be an improvement because it states more clearly what will and will not happen.
Also, you probably need to harmonize the Tablet/Reader terminology.
@Watari: I have updated the compatibility of zotfile without actually testing on FF 8. Usually, that is no problem though. Can you check again? I am not sure whether you have to reinstall or whether the change gets pushed to you zotfile version.
btw, is there an newer version of zotfile 1.6.4 or beta available with more option?
http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/18737/2/zotfile-reader-zotero-plugin-to-work-with-tablet-ipad-android-tablets-etc