location of storage folder

jkoster
Hi,

Im wondering, why can't I specify the location of the storage folder? Zotfile and zotpad are poor workarounds for something that ought to be so simple. I want my storage folder to be located in the cloud service I am already paying for.

Can anyone help?
  • bwiernik
    What cloud service do you use?
  • LiborA
    If you can't use a Zotfile you still can use manual workaround. Save files to your cloud service and link them (not attach) to the Zotero items.
  • jkoster
    @bwiernik I have a Pro account with sync.com They offer a selective sync function but unfortunately all the files in the parent folder are also synced, and that includes the zotero.sqlite file.

    @LiborA the manual workaround is too much work. Ive just started a phd and want to import an extensive library of pdfs into Zotero – or any other reference management software as long as it's open source and nonprofit. Up till now I have been using the folder structure on my mac to organize my files but with the library growing it's getting out of hand. I now have several gigabytes of pdfs that I'd like to organize and rename. I thought this would be a matter of importing them into the software and then slowly sifting through them, but I haven't even got to that point yet... I'm still figuring out which software to use. My reference here would be a really good media organizer such as MediaMonkey (unfortunately only for Windows), but I have yet to come across something comparable for pdfs.

    By the way, I am unable to link files by drag-dropping while holding down Cmd+Option.
  • bwiernik
    edited February 17, 2018
    It looks like sync.com doesn’t support WebDAV, the protocol Zotero uses to connect with third-party storage providers, so Zotfile is the only way to use sync.com with Zotero. Follow the first set of instructions here:
    http://zotero.org/support/sync#alternative_syncing_solutions

    It takes only a few minutes to set up Zotfile to move attachments to the specified place in your cloud folder. Could you explain why this doesn’t work for you?

    You can also use the second or third method described at the link above (symlinking the Zotero folder to your cloud folder or using the selective sync function of sync.com to sync only the storage folder, not the rest of the Zotero data), but do so carefully.
  • jkoster
    edited February 17, 2018
    I have installed Zotfile and specified a new storage folder, but each time I add a pdf to my library – either from the web or my computer – the pdf is added to the original storage folder. I then have to manually click rename for the file to be moved.

    I have unticked the "Ask user when attaching new files" box.
  • bwiernik
    edited February 17, 2018
    It definitely should move and rename new attachments automatically if you have the settings correct. Do you have the "Automatically rename new attachments" set to "Always rename" or "Only ask if item has other atts"?
  • jkoster
    It's on "always rename".
  • jkoster
    I have even tried creating a parent item first and then dropping the pdf on the parent item.
  • bwiernik
    To confirm, when you add an item using the Save to Zotero button in your browser, the PDF isn't automatically moved/renamed?

    What are your exact settings in the "Location of Files" (General Settings tab) and "Use Zotero to Rename" (Renaming Rules tab)?
  • jkoster
    edited February 17, 2018
    Correct. For example, if I go to this URL http://www.jetp.ac.ru/cgi-bin/dn/e_011_03_0580.pdf and click "Save to Zotero", the pdf goes to the original storage folder in the Zotero directory and not the custom location in my cloud folder that I specified in the General Settings tab of the Zotfile preferences.

    "Use Zotero to rename" is not ticked. When I tick the box the result is the same. The bottom four boxes are ticked (from "Truncate title..." on).
  • bwiernik
    Sorry for all of the questions (this should just work), are you saving to My Library or a Group Library?

    Can you check you check if you have any errors after trying to save and it not moving (Help -> Report Errors) and paste results here (or to gist.github.com and link here)?
  • jkoster
    I'm saving to My Library.

    ===

    [JavaScript Error: "XML Parsing Error: no root element found
    Location: data:text/xml;charset=utf-8,
    Line Number 1, Column 1:" {file: "data:text/xml;charset=utf-8," line: 1}]

    [JavaScript Error: "error parsing XML" {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/translation/translate_firefox.js" line: 387}]

    [JavaScript Error: "error parsing XML" {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/translation/translate_firefox.js" line: 387}]

    [JavaScript Error: "Error: First argument must be either element(s) or document(s) in Zotero.Utilities.xpath(elements, '//div[@class="product-information"]/h2[1]')" {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/utilities.js" line: 1276}]

    [JavaScript Error: "No items returned from any translator"]

    [JavaScript Error: "No items returned from any translator"]

    [JavaScript Error: "No items returned from any translator"]

    [JavaScript Error: "No items returned from any translator"]

    [JavaScript Error: "The connection to wss://stream.zotero.org/ has terminated unexpectedly. Some data may have been transferred." {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/streamer.js" line: 155}]

    [JavaScript Error: "WebSocket connection closed: 1006 "]

    [JavaScript Error: "WebSocket connection closed: 1006 "]

    [JavaScript Error: "The connection was refused when attempting to contact wss://stream.zotero.org/." {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/streamer.js" line: 155}]

    [JavaScript Error: "WebSocket connection closed: 1006 "]

    [JavaScript Error: "The connection was refused when attempting to contact wss://stream.zotero.org/." {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/streamer.js" line: 155}]

    [JavaScript Error: "WebSocket connection closed: 1006 "]

    [JavaScript Error: "The connection to wss://stream.zotero.org/ has terminated unexpectedly. Some data may have been transferred." {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/streamer.js" line: 155}]

    [JavaScript Error: "WebSocket connection closed: 1006 "]

    [JavaScript Error: "WebSocket connection closed: 1006 "]

    [JavaScript Error: "The connection to wss://stream.zotero.org/ has terminated unexpectedly. Some data may have been transferred." {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/streamer.js" line: 155}]

    [JavaScript Error: "WebSocket connection closed: 1006 "]

    [JavaScript Error: "WebSocket connection closed: 1006 "]

    [JavaScript Error: "NS_ERROR_NOT_AVAILABLE: Component returned failure code: 0x80040111 (NS_ERROR_NOT_AVAILABLE) [nsIXPCComponents_Utils.import]" {file: "resource://services-common/kinto-offline-client.js" line: 62}]

    [JavaScript Error: "WebSocket connection closed: 1006 "]

    [JavaScript Error: "WebSocket connection closed: 1006 "]

    [JavaScript Error: "WebSocket connection closed: 1006 "]

    version => 5.0.35.1, platform => MacIntel, oscpu => Intel Mac OS X 10.11, locale => en-US, appName => Zotero, appVersion => 5.0.35.1, extensions => Zotero Word for Mac Integration (5.0.12.SA.5.0.35.1, extension), Zotero LibreOffice Integration (5.0.10.SA.5.0.35.1, extension), ZotFile (5.0.6, extension), Shockwave Flash (21.0.0.242, plugin, disabled)
  • jkoster
    Anyone?
  • adamsmith
    Does manual rename (Manage Attachements --> Rename Attached Files) work to move the files?
    I don't have a good idea of what's going on here -- haven't seen this before. Is your custom directory in an unusual location?
  • jkoster
    Manual rename works fine. But as I was saying, I want to transfer my entire library of pdfs into Zotero; it would take too much time to manually rename each file.

    The custom directory is in my cloud folder. Nothing unusual about it as far as I can see...
  • jkoster
    edited February 19, 2018
    It seems that Zotfile can only rename a file based on the metadata in the parent item. When importing new pdfs into the library, a parent item has to be created manually for each item. So how could Zotfile ever automatically rename imported files?
  • aliakhavan89
    I am struggling with this for months. have you find a solution for that? @jkoster
  • bwiernik
    I don't really understand what the issue is. If you select the items and manually rename them, does it work correctly? You can select and rename all of the items at once.
  • aliakhavan89
    The issue is this:

    “ZotFile automatic renaming doesn’t work properly during and after importing PDFs.”

    In other words, it works manually (by selecting items -> right-click -> Manage attachments -> Rename attachments); however, to the best of my knowledge, it is supposed to work automatically even without these steps. I mean you should be able to drag and drop the PDF file, then Zotero will retrieve the metadata and create a parent item, and by this time ZOTFILE MUST CHANGE THE FILE NAME AND MOVE IT TO THE CUSTOM LOCATION.



    For your information, I am using the latest version of Zotero standalone on macOS High Sierra. The importing process is done in the My Library. The “Always rename” option under “Advanced Setting” of ZotFile is enabled.


  • bwiernik
    I believe this broke when Zotero itself started to rename manually-dragged PDFs on import. It does work when you manually rename PDFs, correct?
  • aliakhavan89
    @bwiernik
    I'd thought I clearly stated that (in previous comment):

    "In other words, it works manually (by selecting items -> right-click -> Manage attachments -> Rename attachments)"
  • adamsmith
    Yeah, so the scenario where you drag PDFs to Zotero or directly import PDFs to Zotero from the web currently doesn't work with ZotFile's automatic rename&move and you have to do it manually.

    It's not terribly hard to just run manual rename on the last X files you imported, but I do understand it's an inconvenience and there's no current solution for that.

    FWIW, you'll get better Zotero import when using the general web translators which import item metadata and PDF directly. ZotFile will automatically move those files.
  • aliakhavan89
    Thanks! By the way, I checked right now and it seems that Safari has some problems. The Chrome works well and the latest plugin are installed on both browsers.
  • aliakhavan89
    It would also be very nice if there is a shortcut for this manual renaming process. I used Zutilo but for a reason that I’m not aware of, it didn’t work. For instance, I wanted to set "Rename attachments” to be done with "command+R” but I wasn’t successful at this.
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