How attach links to files using "link to URI" (in groups, zotero5)

SiGi
Hi,
my scenario: I'm working in a company and use zotero to manage different in-house groups. We all share a commen file storage space for publications and internal project documents. Therefore I can't use the "attach full-text pdf" function.

Now I try to attach the links to the uri of the centrally stored (internal) files using the "attach link to uri" function and using the "file://" protocol. In Zotero4 (Firefox version) - this kind of file-link worked fine. (I have some "uri-to-file" links in the group lib.) But now with zotero5 this feature is missing. In Zotero5 it doesn't work anymore. I got the answer to use the "attach file" function - but this function is not available in group libraries.

Can you reactivate this feature "attach link to uri" for the file:// protocol for zotero5?
Thanks.

SIGGI.
  • bwiernik
    Use the "Attach Link to File" option instead, which does what you are looking for automatically.
  • SiGi
    "Attach Link to File" isn't available in group libraries.
  • bwiernik
    Ah, I didn’t realize this was a Group Library.

    @dstillman Zotero 5 now prompts users to use the Attach Link to File function to add file links, but this isn’t available in Groups. I’m assuming the change was made so that the Base Directory feature works correctly? Considering attaching file:// links is a fairly involved procedure, it might seem reasonable to expect users using this approach would understand that the file paths have to be identical (e.g., on a server) for this to work?
  • dstillman
    Linked files have never been available in group libraries, and won't at least until there's support for a per-library base directory setting. (It's a bug that the dialog recommends that function in group libraries, but it's not a new problem — file: URIs have been rejected with that message since 4.0.25.1 in January 2015. I've created an issue to remove that line in that case.)
  • SiGi
    @dstillman: "Linked files have never been available in groups" is not correct. In my group lib I have added an Link to URI using the file:// protocol on Oct 2016. And it works fine for our local group. (Perhaps it was possible with the firefox-version of Zotero4.x at that time, and is now missing in the stand alone version of Zotero5).
  • dstillman
    "Linked files have never been available in groups" is not correct.
    It is. "Attach Link to URI" creates a linked URL attachment, not a linked file attachment.

    The code that should block file: linked URL attachments via "Attach Link to URI" existed in 4.0.29.15 in January 2015, but it's possible it was/is accidentally allowed via some other method (e.g., bibliographic file import). It's not meant to be supported, both for the same reasons that linked files aren't supported in groups and because file: URLs are much more awkward and limited than linked files.
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