i might be a dummie, but i still don't quite understand the syncing principle

adindavanh
Sorry, I'm a beginner, so my question may sound stupid, but I just don't quite well understand the sync principle. In my limited understanding the database is on line, and you access and work on it through Firefox, so what is there to sync with physical computers then?
  • Bionatsci
    The database you work on through the Firefox extension is actually not online - it is on the computer you are using (i.e. if you are offline everything will still work). If you choose to use sync your database is additionally synced online and to any other computers you use Zotero on. So every computer you use with the Zotero extension has an offline copy, and there is a copy online as well, which the other copies sync to in order to keep up to date.

    As I mentioned above this model has the considerable advantage that you can continue working if you don't have access to the internet (e.g. at a library or during an outage).

    P.S. With the release of Zotero standalone you don't necessarily need to use Firefox to work with Zotero if you prefer another browser.
  • adamsmith
    No, you can't use a third party service to sync Zotero data - there is a significant amount of zotero-specific code involved in making the sync work smoothly. But note that data sync with Zotero is free, anyway.

    For file syncing (which is non-free for >100MB with Zotero file storage) you can use any cloud-based service that offers WebDAV.
  • dstillman
    Previous user was a spammer.
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