Syncing attachments?

kuntsman
i am new to zotero syncing and storage so perhaps i am doing something wrong? i have a huge database of website screenshots gathered in a project, this appear as atatchments in my zotero library. i recently purchased zotero storage hoping i would be able to sync these however it seemed to have only synched my library with details of the files but none of the actual attachment files are on the web. when i click on 'attachment details' i get an option to upload an attachment . is there any way to synch attachments onto zotero server without manually doing it with thousands of files? or to export my libraries onto the server?
having an online backup was the only reason i paid for quite substantial storage...
many thanks for your help
  • Gracile
    Note that sync is not a backup.

    Zotero syncing has two parts: data syncing and file syncing. Did you enable file syncing in the Zotero Prefs? “Sync attachment files in My Library using Zotero” must be checked.
    See: http://www.zotero.org/support/preferences/sync
  • kuntsman
    thanks for your response. i did read zotero notes on sync vs backup, however it was clear there that files can be synched in addition to a backup which is what i would like to be able to do.

    i do have filel syncing enabled - that was the first thing that i did. however it seems to only be enabling file synching for group libraries? but i work alone, so not sure what should be my next step
  • Gracile
    however it was clear there that files can be synched in addition to a backup which is what i would like to be able to do.
    Sure.
    when i click on 'attachment details' i get an option to upload an attachment .
    Your attachments are HTML snapshots, yes?
    In your online library, if you click on an item. Can you see a link like "Zotero Forums - All Discussions (html)" in this screenshot? You should be able to click on this link. "(Attachment details)" is another link.
  • kuntsman
    i dont see a link to zotero forums, but there indeed is a link to "attachment details" - which indeed leads to atatchment details but no attachment - and there also is a button 'upload attachment'.

    btw its been 6 days since i started the sync and it shows as still still syncing (says "last sync 6 days ago") could it be that the attachment havent been synced yet? (i have about 5G of data)
  • adamsmith
    this should work and not take 6 days, though certainly multiple hours for 5 GB.
    See here for troubleshooting instructions:
    http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/files_not_syncing
  • Gracile
    i dont see a link to zotero forums
    in your online library, it's not a "link to Zotero forums" that you should have seen. It's just that I took a snapshot of the zotero forum webpage, hence the name of the capture.
    Anyway, have look there: http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/files_not_syncing
  • kuntsman
    thanks, Gracile, adamsmith - I will look at the link and hopefully it will help
  • kuntsman
    i have looked at the link and followed their instructions. did reset file synch history, and started a new sync. the files have been synchronising for about 7 hours, but still no attachments uploaded...

    any suggestions?

    thanks a lot
  • dstillman
    Can you restart Firefox (or Zotero Standalone) and provide a Debug ID for a sync attempt?
  • kuntsman
    D1364324967
  • dstillman
    edited January 30, 2013
    [JavaScript Error: "[Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) [nsIFile.fileSize]" nsresult: "0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND)" location: "JS frame :: chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/attachments.js :: :: line 1103" data: no]" {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/attachments.js" line: 1103}]
    Go into your Zotero data directory, go to 'storage', and look in the 'CU9C53AI' directory. What do you see there? I'd guess that there's either a Windows alias in that folder (in which case, I'd be curious to know how it go there) or a file with a very long filename.
  • kuntsman
    i see lots of files there of different kind - JIF, JPEG, Jscript, VCD, HTML document, Cascading style sheet document(and sorry i have no idea what a windows alias)

    there are some files with long names - these are the 'cascading style sheet documents', such as this for example chav-nativity-which-has-jesus-turning-water-into-lager-angers-parents.html+spaceid=mpu+sz=200x200+sz=240x400+sz=250x250+sz=300x250+ls=f+transactionid=0812091124370998 which also appear several times (and there are several html documents that are related but have a much shorter file name, such as Chav-nativity-which-has-Jesus-turning-water-into-lager-angers-parents

    what does this mean and what do i do?

    thanks a lot
  • Gracile
    edited January 30, 2013
    (It's a snapshot of a webpage created with the "Create New Item from Current Page" button or through a Zotero translator (book icon in the address bar of your browser). The snapshot consists of multiple files.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets )

    Wait for Dan's instructions...
  • kuntsman
    ...waiting.

    (and the link to cascading style sheets is way over my head (( )
  • Gracile
    [Sorry. "Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a simple mechanism for adding style (e.g., fonts, colors, spacing) to Web documents." Anyway, there's nothing abnormal with these files except, perhaps, their long names]
  • dstillman
    Is there a .lnk file in that directory?
  • dstillman
    You can also try deleting the files with the very long filenames, which are likely just advertising junk, but this has been caused before by an alias (.lnk).
  • kuntsman
    no there isn't.
    there are two files that say type: File
    but nothing that is .lnk

    the only files with long names in this folder are the cascade style sheets i mentioneed that seem to be associated with an html document with a related name
  • Gracile
    Was it this article? What happens if you add it (again) to your local Zotero library and try to sync? Can you see it online on zotero.org?
  • kuntsman
    yes it was. so i need to delete it first? do i delete it from zotero library or from the folder in zotero directory Dan directed me to?
  • Gracile
    No, you don't need to delete it first, especially if you want to compare the two directories afterwards...

    (In general, you should delete items only from your Zotero library.)
  • kuntsman
    i have deleted the two items sicne Dan suggested deleting files with long names ; have also re-tried to reset file synch. still no attachments. please any more suggestions? many thanks
  • dstillman
    edited February 4, 2013
    Did you empty the Zotero trash afterward? If so, provide another Debug ID, because the error would be for a different file.
  • kuntsman
    Dan, Gracile - huge apologies for the long silence (have been away from computer due to series of illnesses mine and my child's)

    Dan, here is another debug ID D1935665446 after clearing the trash
    By the way, I am not sure this is the full debug report as it looked like the debug was still logging and my report stopped it - should I have waited?

    huge thanks for your help
  • dstillman
    edited March 7, 2013
    I don't see any errors in there—that just looks like it's mid-sync. Unless you're still getting an error, we don't need another Debug ID, but if you are, you'll need to wait to actually hit the error.
  • kuntsman
    it worked!!! i now see the attachments - so deleting the file and clearing the trash did the drick
    thank you so much
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