"show file" in context menu displaying file not found instead of file path - and other issues

Stofer
Hi, I recently converted from zotero storage to dropbox-synced links. Mostly things have gone well. However, now I'm finding some files that were converted from pdfs to links are now giving me "file not found" errors on the links.

"The attached file could not be found.

It may have been moved or deleted outside of Zotero, or, if the file was added on another computer, it may not yet have been synced to or from zotero.org."
locate/more info/cancel

When I try to use "show file" on either the link or the main item, I get the same "file not found" with options to "locate" "more info" (which takes me to https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/files_not_syncing ) and "cancel". "Locate" also no longer takes me to windows explorer to find a file (the "file not found" error goes away but no file window opens).

I do not have a sync error on this version of zotero: PC, 5.0 standalone I think.

In investigating further, the base directory for linked files had been cleared out of my preferences and was blank, so even when I told zotero through zotfile to "rename attachments" and it seemed to create a link, it didn't have a base directory. It seems like the links reverted to the local computer?

I tried a debug: D178949080 (hopefully did this right, as I haven't before)

Any insight on this will be appreciated - should I add the base directory back in (it's a dropbox folder) and try renaming them all again, but I'm afraid they are all "lost" according to zotero ...

Thanks
  • Stofer
    Some more info - at some point recently, dropbox seems to have deleted all my files in the zotero/storage folder that I had set up. These were all the folders with the random characters that zotero generates. I'm in the process of restoring these and then will update ... but the show file error still seems to be an issue
  • adamsmith
    If Dropbox has access to zotero/storage, you likely don't have this set up correctly and may in fact be in danger of corrupting your database. To use Zotero safely with Dropbox with linked files, you would need to convert attached files to links (typically using Zotfile) and then sync the directory that holds the linked files.
  • Stofer
    Actually, I just named the folder that holds the pdfs in my dropbox zotero/storage to be consistent. It is not linked to the PC's zotero/storage folder. The data directory corruption issue (if that's what you're referring to) I think is unlikely as I did a lot of reading on these forums on how to do this safely and correctly before making the switch. It was working fine until recently.

    I did convert the attachments to links with zotfile, and the directory with the linked files was originally the dropbox folder. Again, this somehow seems to have disappeared within zotero and switched back to the default file attachment on the computer's zotero/storage folder.

    Do you have any comment on why "show file" on the original item (not the link) is not functioning correctly? i.e. it's not showing
  • Stofer
    To add more clarification - I am not missing items in zotero from the dropbox's mysterious deletion (just pdfs, which I'm restoring), and the links are not working correctly.
  • bwiernik
    Is this all on the same computer, or are you working with different computers? If multiple computers, you may need to set the Linked Files Base Directory in the Advanced Zotero Preferences.
  • Stofer
    I double-checked and updated this and am still having the same problem with some items.

    I restarted and re-synced zotero. No dice.

    I found the file manually and put it in the proper linked folder, restarted/re-synced, no dice.

    Can you suggest something else to try?
  • dstillman
    It's not really clear to me what all the steps were leading up to this point, but you can use Help → Debug Output Logging → View Output to see where Zotero is looking when you try to open a file.
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