How does deleting files affect Zotero

andrewmack
I really like the ease of using Zotero as a research organising tool––much better than Mac OS10.5.4's 'Finder'.

Without thinking I deleted files from Finder once they were located in Zotero. Then I started thinking again. The speed with which one could drag and drop BIG files in Zotero meant that they couldn't be being saved on the hard drive in a new place.

But I could still access the files once they had been deleted from the Finder menu. I assume that this is because they are now in Trash and that Zotero is accessing Trash to find them when I click on a file in Zotero.

I also assume that if I empty trash I will no longer be able to access these files in Zotero.

I would be grateful if someone could someone please confirm this?

Andrew
  • Tjowens
    By default, when you drag files into Zotero they are copied to a special Zotero storage folder. Most likely this is where Zotero is loading these files from. To check this, find one of the items you put in the trash in your Zotero collection, select the attached file and click the "show file" button on the right side of the Zotero window. This should show you where the file is stored, and most likely it will send you to a sub-folder in the Zotero storage folder.

    If the files are copied into the storage folder it should be fine to permanently delete the copies in the trash.

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