Saved Search: Attachment file type=PDF also finds links

bjohas
Hello,
Is it possible to determine whether an entry has an actual PDF attachment? )(I.e. corresponding to the 'blue dot' in the first column?)

The saved search "SaveSearch: Attachment file type=PDF" also finds "links to PDFs", i.e. "blue document with link symbol" attachments that point to a url (ending in PDF?) rather than actual PDF files (on disk, with red PDF symbol).

Hope that makes sense!
Many thanks!
Bjoern
  • max1836
    edited November 24, 2018
    I'm confused. I just added a URL link to an item which pointed to a PDF file on the web. Using "Attachment file type=PDF" in a saved search did not find the file.

    Link was

    https://arxiv.org/pdf/1403.4139.pdf

    Are you perhaps trying to differentiate PDF files stored on your local machine from PDF files stored on a LAN server?

    I don't have access to a LAN, so I'm not sure what sort of link Zotero would create in that case.
  • bjohas
    Thanks! Did you add to the item metadata or create an attachment?
    (Also, I'm on the beta - which version are you on?)
  • max1836
    No, I had to create the attachment manually. If I click on the magic Zotero button on Firefox not happens with just that PDF in view.

    For the icon a box with a chain link at the bottom, is the background white or blueish?

    What is the complete link specification?
  • dstillman
    "Attachment File Type" "is" "PDF" does match linked-URL attachments that point to PDFs, at least when the URL ends includes ".pdf". (@max1836, I'm not sure why you're not seeing that.)

    @bjohas: I think your best option at the moment is just to press "+" to expand all items and look through the items that way. We've had some other requests along these lines, so if you could explain what you're trying to accomplish in terms of workflow, we can consider what we can do here to help with this.
  • bjohas
    Thanks both!

    We've imported a RIS with 2000 items on which we are doing a literature review, so for some of those we are now retrieving the PDFs. Basically, I've run "Find available PDF" across some of the items, and now I'd like to see what's missing.

    It's not so bad, because I can just order by the first column in a collection, and count the missing items from there, or see what progress we have made. But a smart search would be a lot neater.

    However, this is far more important for us: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/74768/find-available-pdf-look-at-url-in-metadata-and-attachment-urls?new=1
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