Dropbox, relative file paths, and Zotfile

jameskrigney
edited March 27, 2018
This has been driving me nuts but I am guessing the folks on here will be able to provide some insight.

Here's the situation. I use Zotero standalone on my Mac laptop and use Zotfile to set the relative path to "/Users/jameskrigney/Dropbox (UFL)/Zotero_files". So far so good. Had no problems.

Then I went to having a desktop at work that I want to sync with. I use Zotero to sync my library, so once I installed Zotero on the desktop it synced all my references, but it could locate NONE of the PDF files, though I had correctly set the path on the desktop to the correct Dropbox folder. But I could manually locate and the desktop Zotero would be fine.

I think something is going on with the syncing of the references online. Does the online sync somehow override the relative path? I ask this because I added a test file to the desktop machine (the new computer) and my MacBook cannot locate it, though it's right there in Dropbox beside all the other files the Macbook Zotero has no problem with.

And then there's this: I manually located two PDFs on the desktop and now they cannot be located automatically on the MacBook.

Thoughts? Suggestions?
  • adamsmith
    So you have the relative file paths on both computers set to
    .../Dropbox/Zotero_files ? Obviously the sync doesn't remove relative link information: the whole point of relative links is that they can sync across machines.

    I'd check where Zotero is actually looking for those files on both computers using Zutilo https://github.com/willsALMANJ/Zutilo/releases
  • jameskrigney
    edited March 27, 2018
    Okay, so I installed Zutilo and got it working. Here's the weird thing, it shows the correct path on my MacBook for files I can access. But when I select a file that I opened using my desktop, it does not give me a path.

    Instead, it copies/pastes the path of the previous file I looked at. I do not have access to the desktop at this time of night, but why would the path cease to exist on files that I manually located on the other machine?

    For example, heres an annotated version of what it found:

    [correct path and file I can access on MacBook]
    /Users/jameskrigney/Dropbox (UFL)/Zotero_files/Deaton-Deaton-Koballa_2014_Teachers’ Awareness of Their Diverse Classrooms.pdf

    [repeated from previous file; this is a PDF I manually located on the desktop computer]
    /Users/jameskrigney/Dropbox (UFL)/Zotero_files/Deaton-Deaton-Koballa_2014_Teachers’ Awareness of Their Diverse Classrooms.pdf

    It's like locating a PDF on the one machine, or saving a citation/adding a file to the desktop, makes it unavailable to the other, though the file is right there in Dropbox and I can manually find it.
  • adamsmith
    Don't touch the locate option -- that's bound to mess things up given your situation: if a file is in the correct location (from Zotero's perspective) on one machine and not on the other and you then use locate you just switch that around.

    The next step would be to check the non-working links on the Desktop with Zutilo.
  • jameskrigney
    Alright, that was a helpful solution. So, on the desktop (machine 2), the path is the same as the path on the MacBook even though I see the correct path in the Zotfile preferences.

    That leads to a question: should I only have the relative path in the "Location of Files" in Zotfile, or should I also have the relative paths in the Linked Attachment Base Directory? I see that I used only the Zotfile preferences on the MacBook (computer 1) and DID NOT use the Linked Attachment Base Directory on that computer, but computer 1 is always able to locate the attachments I've downloaded and cited with computer 1. Could that be what's going on?
  • adamsmith
    Yes, you'll want to set the relative base directory on all computers involved. The reason this worked on computer 1 is that that's where you created the links.
  • jameskrigney
    it's all good now! Thanks so much for your help, Adam!
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