Attached PDFs will not open on remote computer

MeTRC Student
I am a member of a private group with a shared library. All of the other members are in the same office, however I just began working remotely, and need access to the attachments in that library. I synced with the Zotero server, and can see all of the citations in the library as well as their attachments(mostly PDFs), but when I try to open them, I get an error message that says 'the attached file cannot be found. It may have been moved or deleted outside of Zotero.'

The group has purchased storage space, and the attachments are stored in the cloud, so the files should be available no matter what computer I'm using, right?

Any guidance would be great!

(I'm using Firefox 14.0.1 and Firefox Zotero 3.0.8 add-on)
  • dstillman
    edited August 2, 2012
    It looks like you've reached your personal Zotero File Storage quota, and it's possible that the current version of Zotero won't sync group files if it gets a quota error for your personal library first. We'll fix that in a future version, but try disabling syncing of My Library files from the Sync pane of the Zotero preferences.

    Note that, if this is the case, you should be getting an error message when you sync explaining that you've reached your storage quota.

    If this doesn't seem to be the issue, you should check whether the group files in question are available in the online library on zotero.org.
  • laxtonsl
    Sorry, this (laxtonsl) is actually the account I'm using. We thought the storage capacity issue might be a problem with the MeTRC Student account, so I'm giving this one a shot. I have turned off syncing for 'My Library', and am syncing with the server as we speak - hopefully that will fix the problem.

    However, I am still not able to get the files from the online group library on zotero.org either. I can see that there is an attached PDF file, but when I click on it, only a listing of basic information comes up, no file.
  • dstillman
    If you can't access the files on zotero.org while logged in then this doesn't have anything to do with your account—it would be the same for all other group members (other than whoever added the files originally).

    Start here: http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/files_not_syncing
  • MeTRC Student
    Thanks for the link, that was helpful. I'm noticing now that some files are accessible from zotero.org, but not recent ones uploaded using the MeTRC Student account. However, those files are accessible from the computer used to upload them. If that account had reached its storage limit awhile ago, would recent files not have been synced to the server? If I have someone disable syncing for My Library from that computer, would that potentially allow the missing files to then sync/upload to the server and be accessible?

    Thanks for your help!
  • dstillman
    edited August 2, 2012
    If that account had reached its storage limit awhile ago, would recent files not have been synced to the server?
    That is possible.
    If I have someone disable syncing for My Library from that computer, would that potentially allow the missing files to then sync/upload to the server and be accessible?
    It should. If the files are accessible locally from that account and for some reason they don't sync up, you can do a Reset File Sync History from the Sync->Reset pane of the Zotero preferences, but (in theory at least) that shouldn't be necessary. (Definitely don't use any of the other Reset options.)
  • MeTRC Student
    Great, I'll pass the message along and report back. Thanks again!
  • felwert
    Just FYI: I had a similar issue. I was member in a group whose quota was reached. As a consequence, no files were uploaded to other groups which had not reached their quota. I left the problematic group, and now my files have been synced to my other groups.

    I think this is an issue with Zotero’s error handling: It seems to give up on the first error, so a space issue in one groups also affects other groups. It would be nice to see this improved.
  • dstillman
    Yes, that will be fixed when we switch to per-library syncing in an upcoming (major) version.
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