Syncing pdf files?

JakobSievers
Hi guys

Bear with me since im new to Zotero.
Im not sure I understand this syncing-of-files business.

Under my library I have created a new collection in which I have added a few pdf's which are stored locally on my harddrive. For each I have chosen to "Retrieve metadata for PDF" which extracts all the information I need. Subsequently when pressing "Sync with zotero server" and logging into my zotero profile, I see all the information and the attachments, but when I press the attachment im merely given some basic info about it rather than given the option of downloading it. Wasn't it the point that I would be able to download the pdfs from a remote computer by logging in to my zotera account?

Thanks in advance!
  • JakobSievers
    The process of syncronization takes a few seconds btw, which doesnt at all reflect the fact that the pdfs are several MB of size, so its not that the program syncs the files and the website fails to show them. The program merely syncs the information and not the attached pdfs.
  • adamsmith
    Files and data are synced by two different (though related) processes:
    http://www.zotero.org/support/sync
    I believe by default data syncing is turned on, file syncing isn't. Also, data syncing is always free, file syncing is for pay above 100MB of storage used.
  • JakobSievers
    Ah so I have to purchase at least 1GB of storage before file-syncronization will be activated?
  • adamsmith
    no, you don't have to purchase anything to activate - you can turn on file sync in your preferences and it will sync up to 100MB of files. If you need more you need to purchase storage (you can also use WebDav storage through a third party, which is likely cheaper, but won't allow you to open the file from your online library. It also won't allow you to share files in groups).
  • JakobSievers
    Then I remain completely puzzled by this problem.
    Everything is set up as shown on the right here:
    http://www.zotero.org/support/preferences/sync
    and when I enter "my library" after logging into the Zotero website, I clearly see all the article entries ive made, and the attachments for each are present in the bottom as "name.pdf" and acrobat-reader icon. Am I not supposed to be able to click on them and actually load them from the internet?
  • adamsmith
    Are you sure you're not above your quota? (check settings --> storage) on the webpage
    If you've triple checked that you have file syncing checked in the sync preferences, that syncing works (i.e. finishes without error message), that you haven't exceeded your storage quota (though I believe you'd get an error message in that case), you could try step 4 here:
    http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/files_not_syncing
  • JakobSievers
    Im not above my quota (I have 3.5mb/100mb) as I just installed the program today on my windows machine running Firefox 4.0.1. I also ran step 4 from you link and nothing changed. Im beginning to think maybe I did something wrong when adding the articles to my library. My approach was listed in the original question i posed here. Does it seem to be right?

    Or maybe the question should be: If you have X number of pdfs and you want to begin organizing them by author, publishing year, content, etc, and you want these articles to be downloadable from any computer (using my password ofcourse), what would your approach be? As I said, im totally new to this so I might just have misunderstood something basic about how to handle this program.
  • adamsmith
    In general Zotero should be able to do what you want it to - not sure if there are better ways - as of now the online library isn't very sophisticated (you can't properly sort or search it), but that will improve rather soon. How exactly did you add the pdfs initially? If you right click on a pdf that isn't synced and select "Show File" - what's a sample file path (what matters are the last couple of folders in the hierarchy, you can xxx out identifying information in the beginning if you're concerned).
  • JakobSievers
    Well, I chose "Link to file" and then pressed "Retrieve metadata for pdf". Subsequently the data were automatically syncronized with the online library but the pdf, which i guess should then be an attachment, was not. Apart from showing up with name and icon in the "Notes and attachments" below all the article info in the online library. Is this the correct way of doing it?

    If I press "Show file" it just opens the folder in which the original pdf is stored locally so everthing seems to be in order there.
  • adamsmith
    ah ok - that's it. Zotero only syncs pdfs in it's storage folder (aka "attached files"), not linked pdfs. To get pdf files into Zotero's storage folder use "Store copy of File.." or drag the file to Zotero.

    You cannot use Zotero to sync linked files, if you want to do that you'll have to look for a different solution - I would think that dropbox or so might be able to offer something like that, but you'll probably find a better answer on a more generic forum.
  • JakobSievers
    Now it works the way I wanted it to do!
    How typical that a simple mistake like that could cause such a headache.

    Thank you so much! I'll be testing out the program for a while to see if it meets all my needs but it seems already that it will!

    Cheers!
  • adamsmith
    I'll see if we can clarify this difference in the sync documentation.
  • Michael_Magnetta
    Had the same issue. this discussion clarified. thank you.

    mike
  • marcotettamanti
    Had the same issue. this discussion clarified for me also. thank you.
    Marco
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