Windows Live Mesh support?

thegeniusfiles
Is it possible to sync to Windows Live Mesh? https://www.mesh.com/
  • krueschan
    zotero requires a WebDAV server for its storage sync function. From a quick look at the mesh website it does not seems as if you can connect to this service via the WebDAV protocal; rather it seems to require a proprietary client software.
    So, unless you find a way (and the corresponding URL) to connect via WebDAV, the answer to your question is no.
  • crbuchanan
    I use Live Mesh with Zotero and it seems to be working well so far. I use Zotero to sync my database and I use Live Mesh to sync only my storage folder. I've had this set-up for about two months and and find it pretty functional.
  • podz99
    Hi. With the demise of mydisk.se, I'd like to also try syncing my storage folder using Live Mesh (or Dropbox) in the same manner as crbuchanan.. ie: I'd like to keep Zotero syncing the main database (which is kept in the default location under documents & settings etc) and use Live Mesh to sync only the "storage" folder containing PDFs etc. Is such a thing possible? If it is, I can't seem to figure out how to do it! I've tried setting a custom "storage location" in Zotero Preferences>Advanced to my dropbox, for example, but this also moves the database to this new location, which I don't really want.

    Thanks for any help!
  • crbuchanan
    Podz99,

    I didn't do anything fancy to set this up. You should be able to make any folder on your computer part of your mesh. I simply found the zotero storage folder and added it to my mesh on both computers. I started on my main computer and then on my second computer started with a blank zotero database and storage file structure and let Zotero and Mesh populate the database and files with their respective sync functions.

    The main drawback that I've seen pointed out about using the mesh is that it requires the host computer to have the Mesh software installed. This hasn't been an issue for me as my main computer is a laptop that travels with me, so I'm rarely using a strange computer. Additionally, the Mesh is available on the net, so if you had to you could always find a PDF on a strange computer without installing Live Mesh. It would be a bit more tedious, but possible.

    Hope this helps.
  • podz99
    Hi crbuchanan,

    Thanks for your reply. I see how you've done it now.. I only really want to sync between work and home computers (at least for the time being), both of which have live mesh installed, so I'm hoping this will work for me!

    Thanks!
  • slowturn
    I've been using Windows Live Sync for the past couple months to sync just the "storage" folder as well. Works great! Except I hit the 20,000 file limit on what Live Sync will sync...boo.

    So if you've got less than 20,000 files, it's awesome. If you have more, you'll need another solution. I'm trying to setup a webdav server at home on Windows XP IIS, but haven't had any luck with the authentication yet.
  • krueschan
    slowturn,

    a good easy and quick solution for your own WebDAV server is the phpzoteroWebDAV server package, that I have put together. This can be easily secured by .htaccess authentication and all you need is a webserver that speaks php. Restrictions regarding size and file number are only those imposed by whoever manages the server in question (e.g. you hosting provider). The program has also been reported to work with free php hosting packages.

    You can find install instructions and download link in another thread on the zotero forum.

    Christian
  • Lanius
    Hi Slowturn,
    could you please help me with syncing via WindowsLive? Did you implemeted it in ZOTERO´s Preferences/Sync settings (I ve got problems with this), or you just synced Storage folder via WindowsLive, please?

    Many thanks, Martin
  • noksagt
    Did you implemeted it in ZOTERO´s Preferences/Sync settings (I ve got problems with this)
    I don't use WindowsLive, but (as above): this would not be possible. Zotero requires WebDAV, which Live Mesh does not offer.
  • Lanius
    noksagt,
    many thanks for comment,
    Best, Martin
  • heislekw
    I'd like to add the storage folder to my Live Mesh as well, so my PDFs are available from any computer via Zotero. crbuchanan's method should work for new references and files, but what if you have existing references and files you want to import to Zotero? For instance, I'm considering migrating from EndNote to Zotero, so I'm wondering:

    How can I:

    a) move my existing PDFs to the Zotero storage folder so it conforms with Zotero's subdirectory structure and naming scheme, and

    b) edit the internal-pdf strings in my exported .ris file (from EndNote) so that they point to the corresponding subdirectories in the Zotero storage folder?

    The main challenge is that, for each file (e.g., pdf), Zotero creates a subdirectory within the Storage folder, named with a random 8-character string. Since these subdirectories don't currently exist, adding existing PDFs and editing the internal-path string isn't straightforward. Is it even possible?

    Perhaps an alternative (or only) approach is to set up links to my existing PDFs, rather than store them. Maybe:

    1) Put all my PDFs in a folder at C:\PDFs
    2) Add this folder to my LiveMesh (so on all computers the path is the same)
    3) Edit the internal-pdf strings in the .ris file to point to C:\PDFs.

    Think this would work?
  • noksagt
    Importing a file with proper links to the pdfs will automatically copy the PDFs to your zotero storage with the proper structure/naming scheme. It is not really possible to setup the structure yourself, manually (and nor is their a reason to).

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