Upgrade StorageMultiple records, one (physical) attachment
Sometimes a PDF can be linked to multiple records. Think of a full journal issue in PDF (yes, some journals do that) that you don't want to split up; or better yet, an article with comments from peers attached. The latter is quite a common format.
What you don't want is to store several physical copies of that same PDF. Instead, the relevant records should all point to just one physical copy. This should be easy to implement under the hood, if I'm not mistaken; it it is not much different from 'Link to File'.
The real issue, then, is the interface. Perhaps it could be as simple as CTRL-dragging an attachment onto another record, by which a link would be created (perhaps add an option to control the default behaviour, physical copy or link).
But sometimes records won't be displayed next to each other. What about an added option in the right-click menu for a file attachment, 'Attach this to another record'? (Needs rephrasing, but the idea is clear.) Another possibility is to improve the existing 'Link to File' dialog by adding a 'Link to existing Attachment' option (the user shouldn't have to click around in Zotero's storage folders to find the right file).
What you don't want is to store several physical copies of that same PDF. Instead, the relevant records should all point to just one physical copy. This should be easy to implement under the hood, if I'm not mistaken; it it is not much different from 'Link to File'.
The real issue, then, is the interface. Perhaps it could be as simple as CTRL-dragging an attachment onto another record, by which a link would be created (perhaps add an option to control the default behaviour, physical copy or link).
But sometimes records won't be displayed next to each other. What about an added option in the right-click menu for a file attachment, 'Attach this to another record'? (Needs rephrasing, but the idea is clear.) Another possibility is to improve the existing 'Link to File' dialog by adding a 'Link to existing Attachment' option (the user shouldn't have to click around in Zotero's storage folders to find the right file).
There are several more threads related to it. It might be useful to aggregate them in a single new feature request thread, but first I want to find out if the devs indeed perceive this area as worth improving.
In order to cite the different chapters, I need to create a separate Zotero item for each chapter - but I would like to have just one physical copy of the PDF file.
Right now, the only way I can do this is via Linking (instead of attaching) the PDF. This however is sub-optimal because linked files don't sync, and if I move to a different machine with a different folder structure or a different operating system, my absolute links will be all broken.
So I think if there's a way of creating the option of attaching the same pdf to serval items (just like one item can be a member of serval collections) that would be quite helpful for edited volumes!