What is the limit on syncing standalone and online versions of Zotero?

KaylinMcNeil · February 27, 2019

I heard there is a limit for syncing the standalone and online versions of Zotero. I am going to be working on a collaborative research project in Google Docs, and from what I understand, you have to use the standalone version in order to cite within a Google Doc. The group working on the project will have a shared online resource library that they will have to sync with their standalone zotero in order to use the shared library to cite within the Google Doc. I need to know how likely it is that individual writers will reach their syncing max.

dstillman · February 27, 2019

There's no limit on data syncing. For file syncing, there's a default quota of 300 MB, which can be increased with a storage plan. You don't need to use file syncing to use Google Docs in a collaborative project.

KaylinMcNeil · February 27, 2019

Thank you. Are you saying you don't have to use file syncing but can instead sync data between the desktop and online versions of zotero in order to cite from a shared group in Google Docs? If so, how do you tell zotero to sync only data and not files?

Can you confirm that you have to have the desktop version of zotero installed to cite within Google Docs?

dstillman · February 27, 2019

Are you saying you don't have to use file syncing but can instead sync data between the desktop and online versions of zotero in order to cite from a shared group in Google Docs?

You can use Google Docs integration without syncing at all, but data syncing allows all members of the group to make changes to items and have those be reflected in the doc.

File syncing is completely unrelated to citing.

If so, how do you tell zotero to sync only data and not files?

If you hit your quota it'll just stop syncing files, but you can disable it from the Sync pane of the preferences.

Can you confirm that you have to have the desktop version of zotero installed to cite within Google Docs?

Yes, you need the desktop version.

adamsmith · February 28, 2019

Unrelated to google docs, I would very much advise, if at all possible, to use a single group as a source for resources when writing collaboratively. While it's possible for everyone to cite from their personal libraries, it causes all sorts of problems, especially in larger projects: e.g., only the person who originally inserted a citation can clean up any typos in the metadata. And if I understand you correctly, you're already planning on doing this?

A positive side effect of a group is that the file storage sync max only applies to the group owner, so a single unlimited (or however much you need) account is all you'd need to allow for everyone to sync both files and metadata.