Sharing pdf's through Dropbox

md2999
Hello,

I am in a group library and the pdf's of the papers that I import into Zotero are saved to a folder on my Dropbox account. I would like these pdf's (including the annotations I make in them) to be available for my collaborators too. Any suggestions on how to do this? Thank you very much.

Math
  • adamsmith
    You can attach links to the online version (i.e. https://dl.dropbox.com/.... or http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/ )of the PDFs on Dropbox (via right-click --> Attach link to URI) - but you'll have to manually do this for each PDF.

    The only way to more conveniently share files in groups is to store them in Zotero and use Zotero file storage.
  • mronkko
    In theory, you could have the storage folder in Dropbox or symlink it to Dropbox. This can be tricky to set up and can lead to problems if done incorrectly, so I too recommend using Zotero storage instead. (I know at least one person with a setup using Dropbox and groups, who is happy about the setup)

    http://www.zotero.org/support/sync#alternative_syncing_solutions
  • adamsmith
    I see how that could work with one person using groups as de-facto multiple libraries, but how would the symlinked storage folder help for multiple people with, presumably, different libraries sharing files in a group? (this is an honest question, you've spent way more time thinking about this than me).
  • mronkko
    It works for groups with multiple users as well because the structure of the files for a particular group in the storage folder is identical for each user and Dropbox with symbolic link will keep these folders in sync. It will be tricky to set up and it depends on the OS (will not work well on Windows), but I know at least one person who has been using this kind of setup for months without any problems.

    The drawback is of course that this way also all files in each group member's "My Library" would be shared as well. These would not be available through Zotero, though.

    And again, I would not recommend this kind of setup because it is easy to mess up your data if you do it incorrectly. (And also managing conflicts will be tricky.)
  • aurimas
    But in this case the files would be attached as files and not links, so wouldn't they sync through Zotero servers anyway?
  • adamsmith
    that's what I thought. I guess this would keep working even when the storage quota is full?
  • aurimas
    yeah, that's the only way I would imagine this method working out. Maybe a feasible solution if you create a different account for groups, so you can still upload attachments for your personal library.

    But then... (1) as mronkko points out, everybody's attachments in the personal library are also synced to everyone else, (2) but since the attachments are essentially orphaned, I would expect some very odd behavior when keys begin to clash. PDFs will probably start to be overwritten and incorrect ones will open in some cases.
  • mronkko
    Yes, it will work even if your storage is full, and I think that the primary reason people are using this setup is that Dropbox gives more free storage than Zotero.

    Key clashes in storage directory are already a risk with group libraries even if you use Zotero file storage, but the risk is extremely small. See this discussion on zotero-dev

    https://groups.google.com/d/msg/zotero-dev/VT_URBrtFic/CekGFEfOTosJ

    I do not see a way to use Dropbox and not synchronise your "My Library" because all the files go to the same storage folder and Dropbox has no way of knowing which subfolders to syncronize and which not.

    This is getting off-topic regarding the original question. The answer to the question is: "Yes, it is possible to use Dropbox to synchronize files, but we do not recommend using that approach."
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