Syncing with dropbox in Zotero 4.0
Please redirect this to another thread if appropriate.
With the release of Zotero 4.0 there is now relative paths for linked files. Does this mean that one could store all of their attachments in a dropbox folder with the relative path dropbox\papers\ and have it sync appropriately across multiple computers?
Also, if this is true, would there be a way to have group libraries sync with the zotero provided space?
thanks.
With the release of Zotero 4.0 there is now relative paths for linked files. Does this mean that one could store all of their attachments in a dropbox folder with the relative path dropbox\papers\ and have it sync appropriately across multiple computers?
Also, if this is true, would there be a way to have group libraries sync with the zotero provided space?
thanks.
2. There are separate sync settings for Group file attachments, so unless I'm misunderstanding your question, yes (and that has always been the case).
I haven't fully understood the way to use the new functionnality of relative paths for attachments.
Is there any documentation or example? The page http://www.zotero.org/support/preferences/advanced hasn't been updated yet.
Thanks,
Frédérique
In Preferences -> Advanced -> Files and Folders, you set a "base directory" and, then, all the files in this directory that you attach as a links (using "Attach link to File"/"Joindre un lien vers le Fichier") to Zotero items will have relative paths.
I set the base directories on two Macs and one Ubuntu machine and then add links to files in these directories. However, when I try to open the file from within Zotero on one machine it cannot locate files that were added on any other machine. Nothing works for any combinations of machines. I get the error:
'The attached file could not be found. It may have been moved or deleted outside of Zotero.'
The base directories are sync'd with Dropbox.
Am I missing something totally obvious?
The Debug ID is D1428643314.
Can you provide a Debug ID for linking to a file within the base directory on one of the machines?
On Ubuntu machine:
- Set base directory
- Add link to pdf1
- Debug ID D610658364
On Mac machine:
- Set base directory
- Add link to pdf2
- Debug ID D1126862193
Sync Zotero on both machines
Try to access pdf2 on Ubuntu machine:
- Debug ID D958631704
Try to access pdf1 on Mac machine:
- Debug ID D1172052164
Let me know if there are any other tests you would like me to try.
You'll need to clear and reset the base directory on one computer to get the relative paths to sync properly.
Thanks for reporting this.
I'm running the standalone versions of Zotero on Ubuntu and Mac. Is there a development branch I can install for the standalone versions?
There are no dev builds for Standalone currently, but Zotero for Firefox will share the same data directory by default, so switching between the two is as easy as closing Standalone.
Thanks for your help with this!
Now just need to determine best method to access on mobile devices (OS X and Android). I use iAnnotate for PDF annotation, which syncs with Dropbox. Thus just need a way of searching the Zotero library on mobile devices and then launching iAnnotate. Might not be straightforward with linked PDFs and Zotero base directory functionality. I'll look into ZotPad and Zandy to see what's feasible. Let me know if you have any tips!
http://zotpad.uservoice.com/
If you mean just the 'storage' directory via a link or the linked attachment base directory (which is what this thread is about), that's OK.
This has worked prior to the new syncing option. But I'd now like to move all these PDF's to DropBox now. So, can I
1. activate the new "Linked attachment base directory" option in Zotero,
2. specify the "digital papers" folder I now use, and
3. move that folder to DropBox?
if this works, do I need to do this independently on all 3 of my computers in different places or can I do it just once?
Michael
You will need to set the base directory on each of your computers individually (the main reason this was introduced is, after all, that filepaths typically vary between computers).
Michael
It looks like I will have to relocate a couple thousand one by one. Not something I'm looking forward to. I might try a sync to see if that fixes it. Of course, it might make things worse.
Edit: syncing is necessary because it provides Zotero with the correct relative link. Only then will setting the base directory work.