DropBox + Linked Attachment Base Directory

mike.thon
I just set up Zotero with my webdav server and syncing seems to be working fine. I was wondering though what this option 'Linked Attachment Base Directory' is for. Based on other posts, it seems to enable me to use my DropBox folder to sync Zotero attachments. Is that better than webdav, and if so, how to I set it up? I chose a base directory and then added a PDF to my Zotero but the PDF still landed in the usual Zotero folder (not in the folder that I specified.)
  • adamsmith
    No, using dropbox isn't better in most cases and has a number of disadvantages to webDAV, so unless you have a strong reason to use Dropbox I'd leave things as they are.

    If you do want to use dropbox, what you'd typically do is to set up Zotfile to automatically move files stored in Zotero to your dropbox folder as links. You would then use Dropbox sync to sync those files to your other machines. The base directory for linked files allows you to use the same links on a different computer:
    e.g. if your dropbox folder on one computer is
    /home/thon/Dropbox
    and on your other computer
    /home/mike/Dropbox
    links from one wouldn't work on the other. Now, with base directories set to those folders respsectively they will.
  • mike.thon
    Thanks for the info. I'll keep the webDAV setup then.
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