Ensuring pdfs saving and sync

kleinash
Hi,

I subscribe to Zotero. I enjoy its use and the ability to edit the pdf's I save. I work between Linux, Mac and Windows. Sometimes I use PaperShip on iPad and iPhone. I have a wedDAV setup with box which seems to work (connects to server etc.)

My issue is that when I have access to pdfs (sitting at a university or work) I always download the pdf, always. But I can come back to a paper months later, and the pdf will be gone, and I have to go through the process of finding and downloading it again, at this point I am most likely at an airport and do not have access to the paid version of that pdf.

How do I make sure that when a pdf is saved, the server is synced, and I have checked that the pdf is downloaded on other devices - that it's not going to go anywhere? I wonder if its still in my system, but somehow has a different reference folder name - and then impossible to find.

Further requests:
1. I would like to log onto my Zotero library and for a link to the pdf saved on my Box account to be available.
2. To be able to (automatically and recursively) check and download each items pdf to fill in any gaps that may be missing.
3. To be able to have one entry for an item that I can have in multiple places, but the library will only see the one listing (i.e. not bloating my amount of data)

Thx
  • adamsmith
    Zotero doesn't just lose/misplace files, so there's really not much of an answer to your question. If you have a specific example when it occurs, we can try to troubleshoot, but that's of course harder with a webDAV where no loggin on Zotero's part exists.

    1. I don't think that'll happen. Building authentication for webDAV into the website, while probably possible, is rather involved.

    3. That's how collections work already. An item in multiple collections isn't duplicate. Or is that now what you mean?
  • kleinash
    It's hard to give a concrete example - there is no error besides "file cannot be found" when I know I saved it and put notes on it.

    3. Ok - I thought this was a deepcopy.
    and for 2?
  • adamsmith
    What we'd do on the Zotero side is check the server logs. That's your best bet with WebDAV, too. But actually -- how are you checking that the file is synced in the first place? That would seem to be the most likely issue.

    For 2, it depends on what you mean -- rechecking missing PDF files for attachments that do exist in Zotero, since those shouldn't really exist with a regular setup in the first place, I don't think is going to happen.
    Refetching data for existing items, including finding a PDF that doesn't exist in Zotero at all, is relatively demanding but will hopefully happen eventually.
  • kleinash
    By using the "verify server" button.
  • adamsmith
    But that just assures the server is working in general, not that individual PDFs are syncing, which could still fail for all types of reasons.
  • kleinash
    Ok - how then do I make sure that things are being synced?
  • adamsmith
    You can check on your WebDAV -- I believe the name of the .zip file on the WebDAV corresponds to the name of thefolder the PDF or Snapshot is in in Zotero. Or, of course, you can check if the file is synced to a second computer, i.e. that you can open it there. You can tell, btw., which files are missing on any given computer by looking at the blue dot in the "attachments" column.
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