Attach link to file

naddya
Bonjour,

l'option "attach link to file" dans le menu New child attachement ne fonctionne pas. Il n'est pas activé. Existe t-il une solution pour l'activer s'il vous plait?

Je vous remercie!
  • dstillman
    Are you trying this in My Library or a group library? You can't attach links to files in group libraries, so it would be disabled. (I don't see you as belonging to any groups, though, at least with your current account, so this may not be the issue.)
  • naddya
    Yes it is a library of group I meet this problem. It is normal to see me because I use another account to be in a band. This one I use it only to request information on the forum zotero.

    So if I understand correctly, there is no way to turn it into a library group?

    Sorry for my English! I'm not on top. And thank you for your reply!
  • dstillman
    No, attached links to files aren't allowed in group libraries because the file paths would (in many/most cases) work only on the original computer. You can either attach the files and sync them or, if they're web-accessible, use "Attach Link to URI" to add a link to the file online.

    (Feel free to write in French if that's easier.)
  • naddya
    Ok I understand better. Thank you for the answers you've given me.
  • tghoward
    I'm trying to 'attach link to URI' with Zotero Standalone 4.4.11 and having no luck (absolutely nothing happens). This is a group library, so the other two attach options are greyed out, per the discussion above. The URI I want to add, however, begins with file:/// ... so I'm worried the same restriction is applying to me (no local files).

    The link I want to add is for a file on a shared drive, where all folks using this group library have access. Using Zotero for Firefox, I can accomplish this with "attach link to current page", when I have the file loaded. Can't figure out a way to do it with standalone.

    Help?
    Tim
  • adamsmith
    you can't attach links to files for group libraries.
  • tghoward
    Thanks for your reply. One can do that in Zotero for FF (as I describe above). And those links still work fine now that I've got Zotero Standalone installed. Granted, they work only when connected to the shared drives the files reside on. This solution worked well for our group and we have hundreds of links structured this way.

    I see others are doing similar things with Dropbox.
  • adamsmith
    Dropbox files have http links, which you can add.
    Dan would have to say, but I believe the ability to add links to local files via "Attach link to current page" is an accident, not a feature.
  • tghoward
    Zotfile is not behaving for some reason, but perhaps this is the way to go:

    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/31124/import-with-attachment-location/?Focus=162337#Comment_162337
  • tghoward
    @adamsmith. Drat, I think it is a great feature for our uses! I understand the general concerns, however, in that the links are broken when viewing outside the context of the users current location.
    Tim
  • adamsmith
    Zotfile uses Zotero's "attach link to file" command, I believe, so that wouldn't work for groups, either, sorry.
  • tghoward
    So 'link to local files' (https://github.com/friflaj/zotero-link-local-files) probably does too and thus probably won't work for group libraries either?
  • adamsmith
    I believe so, yes, but have never looked at that one. But the typical & safe strategy for a developer would be to rely on the conveniently exposed attach function in Zotero.
  • tghoward
    Yes, after trying it out, that appears to be the case.

    Ugh, I think this means we have to go back to putting our local URI paths in Notes. Very unsatisfying. Would putting in a request for a change in this policy (no links to local files) ever get any traction? It doesn't seem like our situation is *that* unique.
  • adamsmith
    no need - Dan reads all threads, I think he's actually explained his thinking on this somewhere, maybe someone else has the link or you can try searching for it.
  • dstillman
    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/30775/attachment-lost-when-dragging-item-from-my-library-to-group-library/#Item_8
  • tghoward
    edited October 7, 2013
    Thank you both for your very quick replies to my questions.

    Dan, the context here is that all users of this group library have access to the shared drive the files are on. So the files ARE accessible to all members of the group (granted: only when they are at work!). Full paths have been working just fine for us since 2011 when I imported the database into Zotero (and the full paths worked fine for many years previous with a different system).

    But, it is good to see the link you provided indicates that allowing files using relative links may be on the horizon for group libraries.
    Tim
  • tghoward
    Re: the 'Attach link to current page' feature in Zotero for FF being accident rather than feature, it looks like I can also create links to local files using the URL field in the citation record. I suspect this is also an undesired feature for group libraries. Please don't close these holes! :)

    So here's my backwards argument for permitting the attach URI option to allow local files: If a users can figure out that it is possible to manually paste a URL-formatted local path in the attach URI field then they should understand the consequences for that link not working in other locales. Just like for the other holes I just pointed out: if we are dumb enough to use these 'features' in the convoluted way we've discovered, then could you allow it ... please?
  • adamsmith
    The URL field will remain available for whatever you want to put in there, but I'd warn against using it as a link to local files: The content of the URL field is frequently used in citation styles, so you might see weird stuff happening in bibliographies.
  • kmpenner
    I know that currently, attached links to files aren't allowed in group libraries because the file paths could only be expected to work on the original computer. I am requesting that attached links to files be allowed in group libraries.
    I have a library that needs to be a group so that my assistant and collaborators can clean up the entries. I also have my PDFs of the articles attached; thankfully, this I can do in Zotero if the group is not public and the files are not too many. However, what I cannot do is place these PDFs into a synced folder so that I can access them from my mobile device. For my personal library, I can get Zotfile to move the PDFs to a synced folder, but this doesn't work with group libraries. The obstacle appears to be that Zotfile relies on attached links, which are not allowed in group libraries.
    If the reasoning is simply that you want to avoid broken links that might result from enabling attached links in group libraries, could you simply exclude these links from the sync process?
  • adamsmith
    edited October 31, 2013
    remember that devs read all threads. Please don't post variants of essentially the same point multiple times.
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