Import from Mendeley : missing PDFs?

I'm trying to export references with PDFs from Mendeley to Zotero. The reference are transfered in Zotero, but without the PDFs. If i open the exported RIS file, I see a L1 field with a link to the document. That link works if I paste it in file explorer (Windows), but it doesn't attach to Zotero. Is there a configuration option I might have changed that makes it not working?
Thanks
  • odd, that should work. Could we get an example. RIS including the L1 path, please?
  • edited January 23, 2018
    I installed Mendeley and Zotero at home, and there it worked, so it might be linked to the filepath?

    At home (PDF follows) :

    TY - JOUR
    T1 - Making sense of journal research data policies
    A1 - Naughton, Linda
    A1 - Kernohan, David
    Y1 - 2016/03//
    PB - UKSG in association with Ubiquity Press
    JF - Insights the UKSG journal
    VL - 29
    LA - eng
    IS - 1
    SP - 84
    EP - 89
    DO - 10.1629/uksg.284
    UR - http://insights.uksg.org/articles/10.1629/uksg.284/
    L1 - file:///E:/Users/Dominique/AppData/Local/Mendeley Ltd./Mendeley Desktop/Downloaded/Naughton, Kernohan - 2016 - Making sense of journal research data policies.pdf
    N2 -

    This article gives an overview of the findings from the first phase of the Jisc Journal Research Data Policy Registry pilot (JRDPR), which is currently under way. The project continues from the initial study, ‘Journal of Research Data policy bank’ (JoRD), carried out by Nottingham University’s Centre for Research Communication from 2012 to 2014. The project undertook an analysis of 250 journal research data policies to assess the feasibility of developing a policy registry to assist researchers and support staff to comply with research data publication requirements. he evidence shows that the current research data policy ecosystem is in critical need of standardization and harmonization if such services are to be built and implemented. To this end, the article proposes the next steps for the project with the objective of ultimately moving towards a modern research infrastructure based on machine-readable policies that support a more open scholarly communications environment.

    ER -


    At work (no PDF - but the PDF is at that location/name)


    TY - JOUR
    T1 - Making sense of journal research data policies
    A1 - Naughton, Linda
    A1 - Kernohan, David
    Y1 - 2016/03//
    PB - UKSG in association with Ubiquity Press
    JF - Insights the UKSG journal
    VL - 29
    LA - eng
    IS - 1
    SP - 84
    EP - 89
    DO - 10.1629/uksg.284
    UR - http://insights.uksg.org/articles/10.1629/uksg.284/
    L1 - file://cybele/Profils/(myusername)/Documents/Mendeley Desktop/Naughton, Kernohan - 2016.pdf
    N2 -

    This article gives an overview of the findings from the first phase of the Jisc Journal Research Data Policy Registry pilot (JRDPR), which is currently under way. The project continues from the initial study, ‘Journal of Research Data policy bank’ (JoRD), carried out by Nottingham University’s Centre for Research Communication from 2012 to 2014. The project undertook an analysis of 250 journal research data policies to assess the feasibility of developing a policy registry to assist researchers and support staff to comply with research data publication requirements. he evidence shows that the current research data policy ecosystem is in critical need of standardization and harmonization if such services are to be built and implemented. To this end, the article proposes the next steps for the project with the objective of ultimately moving towards a modern research infrastructure based on machine-readable policies that support a more open scholarly communications environment. 

    ER -

    (myusername) instead of my real username which I prefer not to post online
  • yeah, that looks like a weird relative paths in the second export -- not sure where that actually lives. What operating system is this?

    Do we need to troubleshoot this further or are you just able to import anything you need at home?
  • FWIW, if it works at home, and you've successfully imported all PDFs, and you use Zotero file sync, then getting your full library at work might be just a matter of syncing both systems. (Not so if you don't use file syncing of course.)
  • (but you shouldn't import the same library in two different locations anyway: that would create duplicate libraries)
  • I know, I don't plan on importing it two times, but I have way too many PDF for the free storage (and I don't want/need to pay, since I really only use at work), so I can't sync PDF online.

    But I'll check with IT here about the relative path, maybe I can do a search/replace in the RIS file with another filepath which Zotero would understand.

    If that doesn't work I'll sign up for WebDAV and sync with that until it's back on my work computer. Unless there's a way to copy PDF from home to work which would keep links?

    Thank you
  • you can just copy over the storage folder in your data directory, yes:
    https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data
  • I found the "real" filepath, so with a search/replace in my RIS, my PDF now imports in Zotero, yay!
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