Since the update, not possible to add pdf documents anymore

ajrochette
I update the new standalone Zotero, I was previously using the firefox extension (and I am not happy about this one disappearing...).
Since then, everytime I want to add a PDF to my library, I get the message "An error occurred while saving this item. Try again, and if the issue persists see Getting Help for more information."
None of the "Getting help" subjects can help me...
Please help me as I really need to use it these days....
  • dstillman
    Start here: https://www.zotero.org/support/troubleshooting_translator_issues

    (That's not about PDFs, but most of it still applies.)
  • bwiernik
    Is this for a specific site or for all pages? Can you give an example URL?
  • ajrochette
    I already checked the page you sent me...
    It is for any site, but only when pdfs, the rest is OK.
    Here are some examples that do not work:
    http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/SC/images/MAB_leaflet_2016_2017_en.pdf

    http://sci-hub.cc/http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212041616303230

    http://www.iisc.ernet.in/~currsci/oct102005/1103.pdf



  • dstillman
    See the final step — we need a Debug ID for the save attempt.
  • ajrochette
    I installed Zotero 5.0.25
    I tried the Debug and it says "An error occurred sending debug output."
  • dstillman
    Can you copy the output and email it to support@zotero.org with a link to this thread?
  • ajrochette
    I am sorry, but what is "the output"?
  • dstillman
    You can click View Output under Debug Output Logging after you've generated the output and copy it. (If it's still logging, you should start over and log just the save attempt.)
  • ajrochette
    Done, I just sent it! Thank you for your help
  • dstillman
    It looks like Zotero just generally can't access the internet, which it needs to for all sorts of things, including saving PDFs. See Connection Error for more info.
  • ajrochette
    It can save all other documents! Only pdf do not work, so it cannot be a connection issue? I had not any problem before the update....
  • dstillman
    It's definitely a connection issue. PDFs save differently from other things and require an internet connection in Zotero. From your error report, a whole bunch of things that require an internet connection (PDF saving, error report submission, translator/style updating — and probably syncing and Add Item by Identifier, though those aren't shown) aren't working.

    Zotero for Firefox just used Firefox's connection to the internet, so it's not surprising that that worked differently. If this is an institutional network, Firefox would've been set up to access the internet in a way that a separate program like Zotero may not be. See the linked page for more info. You might need your IT department's assistance.
  • ajrochette
    This is really annoying... It took me time to convince my colleagues to share documents with Zotero, but if they all need to ask assistance to the IT department, I'm sure they will just all stop using it... Really a pity that we cannot use Zotero for Firefox anymore...
  • ajrochette
    I tried to do what is said in your link, and it says that "This might void your warranty-Changing these advanced settings can be harmful to the stability, security and performance of this application-You shoudl only continue if you are sure of what you are doing..

    Can I "accept the risk"? I have no idea...
  • adamsmith
    yes. Just don't do anything not described in the steps there.
  • dstillman
    edited November 17, 2017
    @ajrochette:

    First, as you're probably aware, this change was out of our control.

    But Zotero is just a standard program on your computer like any other. It uses the system proxy settings by default and will generally connect to the internet just fine. But if your IT department has things locked down, you may need their help.
    Can I "accept the risk"? I have no idea...
    You can, but be sure you've read the rest of that paragraph. This is only necessary if your system proxy settings are incorrect and individual programs need to be configured differently.

    It's also possible that your proxy settings are fine but your IT department is intercepting/monitoring your secure traffic. Check the site certificate info for this site to see if it shows the expected value or something that indicates that the connection is being intercepted. See SSL Certificate Error for more info on what to do in that case. (You get directed to this page if you try to sync on an intercepted connection, but it doesn't currently show for other things.)
  • ajrochette
    Thank you for your efforts dstillman. Unfortunately I am not a computer person at all and I do not get any of your explanations... I have no idea how to apply instructions as "disable your system proxy settings if you're not using a proxy or correct them if you are" ....
  • dstillman
    Well, that's why I say you may have to involve your IT department. The only reason this wouldn't work is if they're doing things that prevent that. I'm just clarifying that this would apply equally to any other program you installed on your computer, and that the move out of Firefox was unavoidable.
  • ajrochette
    Ok I will have to ask my IT department, thank you very much for trying to help me. I hope this will work, because I am used to Zotero and liked using it...
  • brehberg
    We have the same problem in our university hospital, since the last Firefox update which requested the separate Zotero installation we get "ssl certificate errors". Today I unfortunately updated Firefox on the last computer where Zotero was still running. The IT service is working on it since two weeks, but being in a hospital this is not their priority.
    Unfortunately the Zotero documentation for "Security certificate errors in Zotero" is not very instructive, so potentially the separation from Firefox will mean the end of Zotero at our institution, which would be a pity.
    The certificate information for "zotero.org" is "Geotrust.inc", but evidently I cannot disable the security software. Anything else I could try myself?
  • bwiernik
    Like Dan says above, the only reason you would get the SSL certificate error is if your IT department or something else is doing something to intercept SSL traffic (perhaps they intercept all internet traffic for applications other than the web browser).

    This page gives the exact instructions you need to follow to diagnose if your IT department or something else is intercepting SSL traffic. If you find that that is the case, you will need to work with your network administrators to set up the necessary overrides. For now, you can check to see if there are already cert_override.txt and cert8.db files in your Firefox profile directory and copy them to your Zotero profile directory (see here: https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/cert_override).

    If you find these instructions confusing, you will need to say exactly where you are getting tripped up.
  • brehberg
    Thank you for your reply, actually the cert_override.txt and cert8.db files were already in the Zotero profile directory, and copying the current Firefox versions didn't help. The cert_override.txt file contains the following items, followed by a lot of hexadecimal codes:
    owa.hcuge.ch:443 OID.2.16.840.1.101.3.4.2.1
    secutrial.hcuge.ch:443 OID.2.16.840.1.101.3.4.2.1
    gdl.unige.ch:443 OID.2.16.840.1.101.3.4.2.1
    www.thoracic.org:443 OID.2.16.840.1.101.3.4.2.1
    circ.ahajournals.org:443 OID.2.16.840.1.101.3.4.2.1

    Is there anything I could specify to help our IT department solve the problem, apparently they have no solution at hand?
  • adamsmith
    If you're getting Geotrust.inc as the authority when connecting to https://api.zotero.org, that suggests SSL isn't actually being intercepted (and that's why it works in Firefox and doesn't show up in the cert override), so I wouldn't really expect the cert override to work. I'd rather think this may be security software, but that's hard to debug remotely.

  • brehberg
    ok, that's why the IT department has to find a solution which does not impede the security of the whole system unfortunately.
  • adamsmith
    Might be worth submitting a debug ID for a failed sync -- no promises, but possible that Dan would see something helpful in there:
    https://www.zotero.org/support/debug_output#debug_output_logging
    In the (likely) case that you can't submit the debug, copy its content from "View output" into a text editor, save it (zip if it's a very large file) and send to support@zotero.org with a link to this file.
  • dstillman
    @brehberg: No, you're definitely still getting certificate errors. It's possible that Firefox has a different proxy configuration from Zotero. Zotero uses the system proxy settings by default. Connection Error includes a link to Mozilla's documentation on Firefox proxy settings.

    Also make sure you've restarted Zotero after copying those files from Firefox.

    (You can also check the https://api.zotero.org/ certificate in other browsers to see if it shows GeoTrust/RapidSSL there too. Also, the name that it shows for the certificate doesn't technically guarantee that it's the real one, though usually a legit proxy server will identify itself differently.)
Sign In or Register to comment.