Storage problems

ceciliesachs
A couple of months ago I got the message that my Zotero storage was full and I could not sync files. I therefore deleted several folders which should definitely release some more space, but nothing happened. I still got the message that the storage was full. Then I gave away the ownership over one large folder, and thus finally got the message that I had over 150MB free space. So I am satisfied and want to upload a single pdf file, but then I get the message again that I have exceeded my storage. I can't believe it and go into my account to check. And suddenly, from having a yellow line saying I have over 150MB free, it is suddenly red and says my storage is now 308MB which is 8MB too much. What happened?? This can't be correct.

On a sidenote, I can no longer watch my pdf's that I have stored in Zotero. When I click on them the pdf viewer shows, but it remains black, now paper are shown. What is the reason behind this?

Please help me. I am about to embark on my PhD and I desperately need Zotero to work.

/Cecilie
  • adamsmith
    on the PDF viewing issue: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/29559/cannot-view-pdf-attachment-in-firefox/

    It's obviously hard to say what's causing the fluctuations in your storage. Note that you have to empty the Zotero trash before deleting items frees up storage space. Also, any group you own counts towards your storage quote. Finally, you can't upload individual files - anything you attach in Zotero, including webpage snapshots, gets synced.
  • ceciliesachs
    Thank you for your quick reply. My trash is completely empty. As I said I have also given the ownership of my groups to other colleagues and this did indeed free some storage, but the next time I tried to attach a pdf file from the Internet (which I have done countless times before)-it suddenly then said my storage was exceeded again.
  • adamsmith
    So my best bet of what happened is this: you have more than 300MB of files in your library. Initially, your 300MB was divided between groups and my library. Then you transferred the groups and freed up some space, which was immediately filled up by your next sync from My Library.
    It's highly unlikely that Zotero would account incorrectly for the amount of storage you're using.

    If you rely on Zotero sync and storage, you could just buy the lowest tier storage plan - at <$2/month you're really not looking at substantial costs here - or, if you really need this for free, you can look into one of the webDAV providers that work with Zotero.
  • ceciliesachs
    I still do not get why the next sync immediately filled up the space, as I certainly did not add any other files than this one file. The other files was there before I got problem with the storage. Is there really no possibility that this can be a bug or something else?
  • adamsmith
    Syncing stops at 300MB even if you have, say, 700 MB of attachments. Now you free up some space through transferring groups and this temporarily shows free space, then you sync again and more of those 700MB sync, again up to the 300MB limit.
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