Enlargement of Zotero's setup for sync between PCs

krasny
Dear all,

Till know I was using Zotero on my private laptop with the setup for Zotero cloud synchronisation ('Sync attachement files in my Library using Zotero').
The only exception from default setting was the Zotfile add-on which was moving the attached pdfs to the GoogleDrive folder.

I am now moving to the Uni's desktop and I would like to have my database on both computers.
So I have installed the Zotero on a working PC. Then synchronised databases and everything seems fine...but

1. My Zotero (online) database is on the border of 300 MB, beside that the local database (just after sync) has taken 727 MB from my hard drive!
And it is without the PDF file, while they are on my GoogleDrive.

So how it is possible? From where the additional 427 MB is coming from?


2. Please advise me what should I do to reduce the Zotero online database?

While my Library consist mostly of PDFs and webpages, I believe that saved webpages are the reason of the full 300 MB storage space (pdf's are managed by Zotfile add-on to a different location).
Just after a database sync in my 'Data Directory Location' on a new PC I can find only 31 pdfs (only 34 MB).


What should I do to keep my database synced, move all the attached files (webpages) to a Google Drive(together with my pdfs) and reduce the Zotero online storage space?
  • adamsmith
    1. The reason the local database is bigger than the remote one is that a) the local database includes the actual database, which doesn't count towards your storage usage on zotero.org b) snapshots are compressed (zipped) on the zotero server.

    2. You can't use links to effectively sync webpage snapshots. If you want snapshots synced, you'll need to either set up a WebDAV server or use (i.e. pay for) Zotero file storage.
  • krasny
    @adamsmith -Thx for really fast response.

    OK, let's say I would rather stay with some free of charge services.
    If I will start using WebDAV for data sync from now on, the old data will be still kept on Zotero online?

    1. Is there any easy way to remove the data from zotero online and move it to some WebDAV service without corrupting the current database?

    2. I have a really small hard drive on my work's desktop, is there any way to make my local database smaller?
  • adamsmith
    1. since the data is available locally, if you just switch to WebDAV it'll all transfer (but note that you'll still be using Zotero for _data_ sync, WebDAV is for file sync, in your case webpage snapshots).

    2. You can set file sync to "as needed", which only downloads files as you try to open them. That could help.
  • krasny
    1. Yes I want to keep my data on Zotero's server an sync using the internal sync engine. I just want to separate attachement and move them to other cloud service.

    As I understand then I should keep my Zotero online within the free of charge range?
  • adamsmith
    I think you're just misunderstanding the two types of sync:
    https://www.zotero.org/support/sync
    If you set file sync to webDAV, you don't have to worry about any free of charge range. Data syncing is always free.
  • krasny
    Ok, that's great news!

    So I just should change the "Sync attachement files in my Library using Zotero" for WebDav. I believe the change will affect only the new upcoming items and what about the current database? How move the existing attachements to webDav?

    If I have a Zotfile configured in a way to manage my Pdfs in my subfolders structure, will it be still OK after change to WebDaV?
  • adamsmith
    ZotFile won't be affected and everything will get synced to webDAV, not just new stuff.

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