Naming pdfs

groovebot
I like to save my pdfs with meaningful filenames, e.g. "Author et al 2012 Futurism & Papers.pdf". To combine this with using Zotero (1.0.9), I save the pdf to my desktop with such a filename, drag it over the Zotero entry it should go with, then delete the file on the desktop since it just got a clone in its own Zotero folder. This isn't a big hassle, but it would be easier still if Zotero allowed naming the file when using "Take Snapshot of Current Page" - so all the work stays within Firefox.

One can use "Show File" to navigate to the file and change the filename there, but Zotero does not then seem to update the entry for the pdf in its document list - so it will now commendably link to "Author et al 2012 Futurism & Papers.pdf" but sadly still call it "CrypticFlname.pdf".

If there already is a solution please let me know - otherwise consider this a future request.

Thanks for fantastic software!
  • dstillman
    edited September 6, 2009
    Click on the title in the right column of the Zotero pane. You'll be able to change both the attachment title and file name.
  • timolsen
    An auto rename would be sweet. Someone developed a sweet python script to do this, but it creates a duplicate PDF that is not linked into Zotero.

    Auto rename of PDFs is a killer feature for 'Papers' on MAC OS.
  • Joscha
    This is an attempt to integrate an automatic rename feature into Zotero. It automatically renames, moves, and attaches pdfs (or other) files to Zotero items by pressing a button.
    http://www.columbia.edu/~jpl2136/zotfile.html

    It does not work with all the pdfs you have already linked/attached to your library. It's just easier with new files...
  • timolsen
    Brilliant! Great work. Thanks for sharing. It took me a minute to figure out where the ZotFile button was, but I found it. You have to right click on the zotero record to see it... makes sense. Should read better.
  • kbares
    I can't find the ZotFile button for the life of me...
  • Joscha
    Actually there should be a small button showing a paper-clip right next to the "add note" button.

    I have added a screenshot to the webpage. I hope this makes it clear...
    http://www.columbia.edu/~jpl2136/zotfile.html

    I know that there might be a conflict with the lytero plugin. So if you have installed this plugin, you might not be able to see the zotfile button.
    Let me know if you have problems (and also if you solved the problem).
  • adamsmith
    edited February 26, 2009
    I tried zotfile on ubuntu 8.10 - everything works fine up to the last part - attaching the file - which simply doesn't happen. The correct file gets moved and renamed, but not attached.
    Could this be a linux problem or am I doing something wrong?

    edit: oh - and thanks for putting this out there, of course!
  • kbares
    Thanks--I re-installed and see the paper clip now.
  • Joscha
    Hi Adam,
    which version of Zotero are you using? I have never tried zotfile with 1.0 and I am pretty sure that it does not work with 1.0. If you are using 1.5, I can try to figure out what is going wrong but would be surprised if the error is linux related.
  • adamsmith
    sorry, should have mentioned this - using the newest 1.5beta with FF 3.06 - any debug I can send to help?
  • MartinFisher
    I have the same problem as adam.smith (i.e. moving and renaming happens fine but nothing is attached). I am using zotero 1.5b1, Firefox 3.0.6, Kubuntu 8.10 with KDE 4.2
  • Joscha
    okay, I will try to look into this and hope that there is an easy solution...
  • MartinFisher
    Many thanks! Standing by to see if you fix this!
  • Robert Loutzenhiser
    i would love to use zotfiles but i store multiple files under each biblio (zoetero file) entry. when will you have this problem fixed?
  • Joscha
    Hi,

    yusuf martin and adam.smith, can one of you send me an email (it's on the webpage) so that I can send you a test version of zotfile back. This version is only supposed to help me finding out where the error comes from (which I cannot do on my computer because I have a mac).

    Robert, I have actually done this in chickenfoot a while ago but never transfered the code to the plugin. But I can do that together with the hopeful fix of the linux problem. Any thoughts on the naming conventions? I mean the first file should still be called
    Reddy_Jayadev_2008_Inequalities & Identities.pdf

    And the following files?
    Reddy_Jayadev_2008_Inequalities & Identities2.pdf
    Reddy_Jayadev_2008_Inequalities & Identities3.pdf
  • adamsmith
    done
  • MartinFisher
    also done
  • Robert Loutzenhiser
    At this point, any naming convention would be good. what would be nice would be a popup allowing the user to enter his own file name.
  • adamsmith
    @Robert:
    That makes little sense - you can just do that by hand anyway.

    But more importantly - Zotero 2.0b already has a renaming function that is customizable, as does Zotfile. I'm not sure what you are missing?
  • Robert Loutzenhiser
    actually i was just waiting for the zotfile pdf import only allowing "one file per biblo to be imported" to be fixed as per post above. I assume that that problem has been fixed in 1.0.5 and i like the way that you set up the file renaming convention. i will give this a try.
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