Upgrade StoragePossible to Leave Folder, just fetch Metadata and Rename?
Hi,
I'm a recent convert to Zotero from a simple folder organised library. My aim in Zotero is to use it for citation, yes, but first to convert the few thousand of random filenames to this specific format: {Surname1,Surname2 (or) Editor1,Editor2,Editor3.YEAR.Title}
Many of my filenames are already in this format (I did it manually over the years). But now I have less time so I need automation. The folders are usually named in the format {Surname, Name}, but some of them are folders named for conferences, colloquia and so on. Naturally there are tens of folders, probably a few hundred in total. Very few folders contain folders themselves.
Is it possible to leave the folders and folder stucture untouched, only renaming the filenames? Even a renaming like Surname1/Editor1.YEAR.Title.pdf would save me tons of time, if left within the original folder. I tried Zotfile but I have to manually suggest the ConferenceA folder, then change to ConferenceB, and so on. I must specify the Move-to folder each time - or so I understand it. Of course, the other issue is that in the filename, Zotfile does not appear to recognise Surname2, Surname3... or Editor2, Editor3.
The reason I need to do this is because originally I had named the folders for themes, and I would like to make a note of the themes before I put them in Author-wise folders. I have the idea of taking a screenshot of the theme folder which will show its contents, but currently it looks like: FolderThemeA > 12345.pdf, 234567.pdf, 345678.pdf and so on.
I use Zotero Standalone, but happy to try Zotero Firefox if it helps me do this. Am also happy if part of the process is automated for me, and I do the rest myself. Still would save me hours!
Thanks! Best wishes.
I'm a recent convert to Zotero from a simple folder organised library. My aim in Zotero is to use it for citation, yes, but first to convert the few thousand of random filenames to this specific format: {Surname1,Surname2 (or) Editor1,Editor2,Editor3.YEAR.Title}
Many of my filenames are already in this format (I did it manually over the years). But now I have less time so I need automation. The folders are usually named in the format {Surname, Name}, but some of them are folders named for conferences, colloquia and so on. Naturally there are tens of folders, probably a few hundred in total. Very few folders contain folders themselves.
Is it possible to leave the folders and folder stucture untouched, only renaming the filenames? Even a renaming like Surname1/Editor1.YEAR.Title.pdf would save me tons of time, if left within the original folder. I tried Zotfile but I have to manually suggest the ConferenceA folder, then change to ConferenceB, and so on. I must specify the Move-to folder each time - or so I understand it. Of course, the other issue is that in the filename, Zotfile does not appear to recognise Surname2, Surname3... or Editor2, Editor3.
The reason I need to do this is because originally I had named the folders for themes, and I would like to make a note of the themes before I put them in Author-wise folders. I have the idea of taking a screenshot of the theme folder which will show its contents, but currently it looks like: FolderThemeA > 12345.pdf, 234567.pdf, 345678.pdf and so on.
I use Zotero Standalone, but happy to try Zotero Firefox if it helps me do this. Am also happy if part of the process is automated for me, and I do the rest myself. Still would save me hours!
Thanks! Best wishes.
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I added a small test bath of about 10 or so pdfs to Zotero standalone, and tested Zotfile to see what are the possibilities. They got their metadata, got renamed and went into their Surname folders (used %a operator in Zotfile). I couldn't figure out much after 6 hours and the help guides and forum, so decided to ask here!
Of course before putting the test batch pdfs back in their original theme folders, I decided to wait for an answer here in case some more tinkering around is required.
Any hints or links to other answers? I would really appreciate even if part of the problem can be fixed..
Thanks in advance!
I think that would give you what you want, though I'm not 100% confident I fully understand your requirements.
(edit: you don't _have_ to add the folder structure to Zotero, btw. It just would seem to make sense.
My goal is basically to leave the folder structure and folders names intact, and get a citation program (such as Zotero) to rename all the PDFs inside. This should be in the form of, to use an example, {Huntington, Samuel.1994.Clash of Civilisations}. But I would like the program to leave them where they are located and not move them around. The reason is because if the folders are renamed, I won't know which conference/which professor I got them from, which is important in my readings. Currently I have folders which have, say, "Prof Smith recommends" or "Reading group on Deleuze, 2003". The contents of these folders are a number of files with no names, such as "1234.pdf" or "7890.pdf" or "Deleu94.pdf". If I take a screenshot of a folder's contents to see what Prof Smith recommends before I let Zotero organise these files, the screenshot would only show these random filenames, and then Zotero would rename them and move them, and I'd never know what Prof Smith recommended. I have a few thousand folders, which means a lot of work in renaming them!
Though as I understand it, manually creating Collections in Zotero appears to be the only option. Or is there another Citation or Renaming software that can do some of this work?
Edit. I only need to be able to somehow note down the folder's name and all its its PDF's names, to put it briefly. I would like to do this in batches of folders rather than individual PDFs. The folder structure is unimportant by itself..
Have a good day :)