I see that the new Firefox connector doesn't have the dropdown context menu that was previously present in the previous version. The options in this menu (choices between translators, lookup engines, overriding the normal snapshot preferences, choice to download without attachments [that might have been a Zutilo feature]) were really useful, and I used them very frequently. Will they be coming back at some point?
@bwiernik: Unlike Chrome, Firefox doesn't currently allow custom context menus on WebExtension toolbar items — I'm not sure why — so the secondary translators and webpage saving are currently available in the page context menu. Saving a webpage without a snapshot and the lookup engines aren't currently available, but we'll try to add those soon. Issues #80 and #81 created. (The latter is a lot more complicated, so that may take a bit longer.)
Thanks for this wonderful piece of work. I have one issue with the new firefox connector: I have lost the ability to choes the "download to zotero" with the "retrieve metadata" sub-menu when donwloading a PDF in Firefox. It was a very useful option. Is there a way to get it back?
@lbasti01: Unfortunately not at the moment — we have no way of modifying the main Firefox UI in the new Mozilla extension framework, so this is one feature that we can't replicate. But we may ask Mozilla about the possibility of adding support for custom options in the save dialog and see what they say.
In the meantime, if you have the default Firefox PDF viewer enabled, though, what you can do in recent Connector versions is click the save button while viewing the PDF. The Connector will save the PDF straight to Zotero, and you can retrieve metadata from there. (And we're still hoping to automate that part so that added/dragged PDFs are automatically recognized.)
The most useful feature of Zutilo for browsing for me were context menu functions to attach the page/link target to the currently selected item in Zotero. Any chance those could also be added to the connectors in a future version?
@bwiernik: Could you give a bit more detail on when you used those?
On a related matter, I've created an issue for adding a "Save Link to Zotero" context-menu option to the connector, to restore a similar option from Zotero for Firefox.
The biggest use was for adding an attachment/snapshot to an item missing it (e.g., if I added the item without library access). These saved around 45 seconds per item versus downloading the PDF separately and attaching it manually. Another mechanism for doing this (I believe Joscha introduced a pull request to retrieve the PDF in a hidden browser from the Zotero context menu) would also work.
Quick follow up from my post from yesterday morning.
The issue with the Zotero standalone opening up a new instance of Firefox when viewing snapshots was indeed a system settings error on my laptop resulting from the installation of a different piece of software which had set all .html files to open its help file. It had nothing to do with the Zotero beta 5.
All is working now fine. Thanks again for Zotero and for supporting Linux.
@Oby My recommendation for you is: Do not upgrade before PhD work will be submitted. I had to delete all citation and put them again in some unfinished papers after upgrade to Zotero 5 beta. It was not a big problem for me because there were few dozens of citation only. Fortunately, I had submitted my PhD before the upgrade.
@LiborA : That's exactly the kind of think I fear, and why I don't intend to upgrade.
But my question remains: Will we be prompted for the upgrade? Or will the upgrade be automatic? If the latter is the case: can I do anything to "block" the upgrade?
For a major update (4.0 -> 5.0), Zotero will prompt before the upgrade, so you'll have the option of delaying or declining each new version (5.0, 5.0.1, etc.).
If you want to completely disable update checking, you can set app.update.enabled to false in about:config from the Advanced preferences (though obviously we don't recommend that, since it's easy to forget and end up on an old, broken version).
Fantastic news, thanks for taking the time to answer!
I will just decline the upgrade until the thesis is submitted, as it is likely to be a for a period of a couple of weeks (provided that Zotero 5.0 releases before March, that is).
I'm very excited about the RSS function! Something I would like to find in the following versions would be the ability to use the "save search" function to search all RSS feeds. At the moment it's only possible to search per RSS feed.
Those options already are working when you have text selected when editing an item. The Cut/Copy/Paste options in the Edit menu of the toolbar have never been functional.
I am using Beta 5.0 full time now and was wondering: what is the preferred way to report issues (e.g. visual issues or issues best explained with screenshots): a dedicated post in the forums of a post in this thread?
I believe that KrisJ was asking a question and that "dedicated post in the forums of a post" was intended to be "or" not "of". In other words, should beta questions all be under this sticky or should questions be placed in a [new] thread topic? I also have this question.
This becomes more important when 5.o final is released and forum users search for answers in a body populated almost entirely by issues concerning older Zotero versions. The 5.0 issues in the forum will be mostly irrelevant because they are bug reports and fixes rather than how-to questions related to the release version. Essentially all forum comments, for example, concerning RSS are related to programming issues instead of how to best use this wondeful new feature. With the release of 5.0 much of the current forum content will be useless.
Hmm that new extension framework for firefox seems a bit weird - no custom context menus, hmm.
I have only been using 5 beta since yesterday, while also running 4.0 on my other computers. Please excuse me if some of the following is already implemented in 5 beta.
I was wondering if any of the features from the Zotero / Firefox extensions will make it into zotero 5? E.g. 'Zotero Scholar Citations' by Anton Beloglazov, 'ZotFile' by Joscha and 'Zutilo' by will. E.g. renaming pdf files from the zotero item is a great feature. Nothing worst than have a paper filename called 'Microsoft Word something something' or p234-author.pdf - absolutely useless names. Extraction of annotations is also pretty nice!
Thanks for all your work - I wish the project would get more funding. I hate to see propitiatory software used in the academic world. I hope my could subscribe also helps fund the development of zot, not only covering server costs.
All of those extensions work in Standalone already -- I know that Zutilo already works with Zotero 5.0, there's a Zotfile 5 beta version that works with Zotero 5.0. I don't know anything about scholar citations, though it's sufficiently simple that it might just continue to work in 5.0.
Renaming PDFs, by the way, is also possible without Zotfile; Zotfile just introduces more naming options.
Does the new Zotero 5 Firefox connector include ezproxy support? I've stuck with Zotero as an add-on for Firefox because of the seamless connection between searchnig and importing that ezproxy allows.
yes -- all the connectors (the Chrome&Safari ones not yet released) have proxy support equivalent to the one currently only available in the Firefox add-on.
I felt like I have read that Zotero 5 was re-written extensively (but I may be mis-remembering?). I am eager to see a document describing features and benefits of Zotero 5 (may be buried in this thread).
I encounter a lot of latency running standalone Zotero 4.0.29.10 (when the app says or is not responding). Most typically this is after a query or trying to move or open an entry. I have a modest sized library 800 top level entries (with associated child sub-entries including PDFs) running on a Windows 7 i5 laptop. Off-topic: Would a faster laptop decrease latency?
The current 5.0 changelog is here: https://www.zotero.org/support/5.0_changelog Yes 5.0 is faster, but any slowness on an 800 item database on a computer that's less than 10 years old suggests something isn't quite right. (Though yes -- the faster the computer, the less lag you'll experience). I'd take that issue to a new thread.
Upgrade Storage
Thanks
In the meantime, if you have the default Firefox PDF viewer enabled, though, what you can do in recent Connector versions is click the save button while viewing the PDF. The Connector will save the PDF straight to Zotero, and you can retrieve metadata from there. (And we're still hoping to automate that part so that added/dragged PDFs are automatically recognized.)
On a related matter, I've created an issue for adding a "Save Link to Zotero" context-menu option to the connector, to restore a similar option from Zotero for Firefox.
The issue with the Zotero standalone opening up a new instance of Firefox when viewing snapshots was indeed a system settings error on my laptop resulting from the installation of a different piece of software which had set all .html files to open its help file. It had nothing to do with the Zotero beta 5.
All is working now fine. Thanks again for Zotero and for supporting Linux.
Alec
But my question remains: Will we be prompted for the upgrade? Or will the upgrade be automatic? If the latter is the case: can I do anything to "block" the upgrade?
If you want to completely disable update checking, you can set app.update.enabled to false in about:config from the Advanced preferences (though obviously we don't recommend that, since it's easy to forget and end up on an old, broken version).
I will just decline the upgrade until the thesis is submitted, as it is likely to be a for a period of a couple of weeks (provided that Zotero 5.0 releases before March, that is).
Cut/Copy/Paste in the context menu will be restored. Please when?
This becomes more important when 5.o final is released and forum users search for answers in a body populated almost entirely by issues concerning older Zotero versions. The 5.0 issues in the forum will be mostly irrelevant because they are bug reports and fixes rather than how-to questions related to the release version. Essentially all forum comments, for example, concerning RSS are related to programming issues instead of how to best use this wondeful new feature. With the release of 5.0 much of the current forum content will be useless.
This is also described in Dan's initial message in this thread:
I have a running toolchain to create such extensions.
Currently, my only public showing of relevant experience is here:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4086891/how-to-debug-c-sharp-bho-project-in-visual-studio-internet-explorer/24206945#24206945
I have created quite a number of IE Add-ons for private customers in the past and from Feb onwards, I am likely to have some time to devote to this.
I really like Zotero and if I could help out, that'd be a nice experience.
I personally would be extremely grateful if you were able to build one.
I have only been using 5 beta since yesterday, while also running 4.0 on my other computers. Please excuse me if some of the following is already implemented in 5 beta.
I was wondering if any of the features from the Zotero / Firefox extensions will make it into zotero 5? E.g. 'Zotero Scholar Citations' by Anton Beloglazov, 'ZotFile' by Joscha and 'Zutilo' by will. E.g. renaming pdf files from the zotero item is a great feature. Nothing worst than have a paper filename called 'Microsoft Word something something' or p234-author.pdf - absolutely useless names. Extraction of annotations is also pretty nice!
Thanks for all your work - I wish the project would get more funding. I hate to see propitiatory software used in the academic world. I hope my could subscribe also helps fund the development of zot, not only covering server costs.
Renaming PDFs, by the way, is also possible without Zotfile; Zotfile just introduces more naming options.
Just to make sure - I can still use the error report feature when I experience issues, right?
I felt like I have read that Zotero 5 was re-written extensively (but I may be mis-remembering?). I am eager to see a document describing features and benefits of Zotero 5 (may be buried in this thread).
I encounter a lot of latency running standalone Zotero 4.0.29.10 (when the app says or is not responding). Most typically this is after a query or trying to move or open an entry. I have a modest sized library 800 top level entries (with associated child sub-entries including PDFs) running on a Windows 7 i5 laptop. Off-topic: Would a faster laptop decrease latency?
Yes 5.0 is faster, but any slowness on an 800 item database on a computer that's less than 10 years old suggests something isn't quite right. (Though yes -- the faster the computer, the less lag you'll experience). I'd take that issue to a new thread.