Endnote Import with Linked Attachments

I'm switching from Endnote (X7) to Zotero, and having trouble figuring out the best way to go about importing my references.

At the moment, I have my library in Endnote set up with all of the PDF's attached as linked references, with the files in a central "library" folder in DropBox.

I organize my PDFs with a 4 digit numerical code in addition to some information about the reference.

When I try to import my Endnote library using either an xml or ris file, Zotero makes copies of all of my PDFs within the Zotero storage folder. Is there a way to either have Zotero not import PDFs, or even better, have it import the attachment as a linked file?

Additionally, is there a way to maintain a custom field (my 4 digit numerical code) in the Zotero library, aside from having it as a note?
  • So after messing around with the RIS files, it seems like two possible solutions are:

    1) modify the RIS export from Endnote to not include linked attachments, then re-add the files in Zotero after import as linked files.

    2) edit the RIS file to swap the label (L1) field to CN and have my numerical labels appear as call numbers in Zotero.

    Are there more expedient paths to either of these?
  • Not at the moment. We're hoping to offer an import option soon that lets you specify file linking, but there are some complications we need to figure out first.
  • Thanks.

    Is the best way to get my references transferred with no attachments to just manually delete the L1 line on all the RIS files?
  • That would work. A decent text editor should be able to remove all such lines in a single find/replace — if you need help with that, we could provide pointers if you say what OS this is.

    You could also just do the import and delete the attachments after easily in Zotero, though removing beforehand would be cleaner.

    Another option would be to use the ZotFile plugin to convert all stored files to linked files in a temporary directory, set it up as a linked attachment base directory to convert all the files to relative paths, and then update the linked attachment base directory to point to the original location on Dropbox. After that you could delete the temporary directory. A lot of unnecessary file copying, but you'd avoid having to manually re-add the files.

    (Alternatively you could just wait for us to implement this linking option, but that may not happen for a little while.)
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