Starting Zotero - Group Library - Need Advice

TShaku
Just starting to use Zotero on our science team and I wanna know what is the best way to go about this.

Basics:
There are currently 5 members and in the future maybe more.
3 people are using windows laptop and 2 are using macbooks.
I think I will do the most uploading/updating of the library (windows laptop) and I will use the zotero standalone for that.
Another member might upload her section using the zotero standalone as well (macbook).
The other members might just access the library through the zotero.org website only. Not sure if they will download the zotero standalone version.
Currently all our files – pdfs, word documents, excel files, powerpoint files are in dropbox with their pubmed ID or a short title.

Goals:
Our main goals are to use zotero as a way to organize our library of articles and to open and read the articles as well (see what other members highlighted/their notes on the article).

Main Question:
I was wondering if attaching the file directly with each entry in zotero is best or creating some kind of link between dropbox and zotero is better. What is the best way to go about this in my situation, since I know some people have problems with dropbox and zotero.

We want everyone to be able to access these articles on any computer at any time. Also, we want to be able to recover these files as well if we upgrade/switch computers as well.
  • adamsmith
    edited August 12, 2015
    you're going to make life much easier for yoursefl by attaching the files and using a single group library for collaboration. I'd very strongly recommend going that route and it would do everything you say you need it to.

    The two big drawbacks of using Dropbox in your situation is:
    1. (This is the main one): you wouldn't be able to do this in a Zotero group at all, since Zotero groups don't support links
    2. It requires much more set-up and maintenance (setting up relative links and, typically, ZotFile on every computer involved) and is as such a lot more error prone.

    Since group storage only counts towards the storage of one person, the group owner, the costs involved are going to be minimal for a lab: the most expensive, unlimited, storage plan is 120$/year.
  • TShaku
    Ah okay,

    Another question.

    Once I attach a file to a entry in zotero, do I still keep that file on my computer or can I delete it?

    I just want to make sure that if my computer breaks or anything everyone will still have access to the papers and can open and download them again.

    We don't want to lose anything.
  • adamsmith
    It's up to you, but Zotero does store files you attach locally, which means that standard back-up procedures (like a daily harddisk sync) will include all of them.

    What you should not do is rely solely on Zotero's file storage for backup. File storage doesn't have versioning, so while it can sometimes save you when everything else breaks, it's not a suitable backup solution.
  • TShaku
    Okay thanks for the help! Well I think we'll keep our dropbox files there and use zotero as more since we can see the details of the article easier.

    It's just a pain to upload/reupload all 2500+ articles to zotero is something gets messed up

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