I think I misunderstood Zotfile! Library is split in two different places.

klstanton
Hi, I tried searching for this issue but couldn't find a previous discussion with all info I needed.

So, I have been using Zotero happily for two years! I recently hit my storage limit, and I also bought an iPad. I wanted to take advantage of Zotfile's nifty way of syncing with tablets.

Without fully understanding what I now think I do - which is that Zotero saves the PDF locally and then you click Send it to Tablet to get it to your sync folder (I am using Google Drive) - I have managed to put a number of my files in only the Google Drive folder. When I click on Show File, it takes me to my local folder on my desktop that does Backup and Sync with Google Drive, instead of deep in the chaotic names of Zotero Library folders.

I am about to embark on a PhD program, and so I want to ensure everything is organized before I get myself into any more trouble! How do I (1) figure out which files on my Google Drive do NOT have a local Zotero library location on my hard drive (2) relocate them to my hard drive while remaining connected to their citations? Is this the right thing to do to ensure a locally supported Zotero library AND get it to my iPad through my Google Drive?

Alternatively, I could just pay the $60, support your amazing program, and sync through Zotero to my iPad. But even then I would NEED to migrate only those files that are not in my local Zotero library, right?

Thanks for what I am assuming will be a quick and totally obvious answer and sorry for being such a special person. Also, I should note, I was trying to clean up my mac, so like two days ago I deleted all of my downloads and all of my trash. Go me!
  • adamsmith
    Send to Tablet should only ever copy files, so this is weird. Could you take screenshots of the two first screens of your ZotFile preferences, upload them to a free image hosting site (imgur, Dropbox, Google Drive..) and link to them here? You can black out any filepath parts you don't want others to see.

    Alternatively you can just describe every non-default setting in the ZotFile preferences, but that's more error prone.
  • klstanton
    I can totally do that. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1egh7vyYU6gPOxGyS30CWJ7ZIjtUV6Gjh?usp=sharing

    I have double checked my settings a million times! It was ME, not Zotfile, who was actually putting the PDFs there at some point in the beginning, I think, and then dragging them into Zotero to connect to the citation I had created from the Chrome Zotero plugin. I think I thought that's what I had to do to get them to sync.

    Somehow I didn't understand that they would live in my local Zotero library and get sent back and forth through this Google Drive folder, and remerged, correct?

    Thus, I discovered my discrepancy when getting new citations through Chrome, and noticing that the files were not appearing magically on my iPad! So any new citations I have, I've done the correct way: downloaded a pdf, linked it to the citation, and then clicked Send to Tablet for the citation if I want to read it on my iPad. So I just want to resolve the issue with some of my initial PDFs, and make sure that I've got this workflow correct.

    Thanks a bunch :)
  • klstanton
    I added a third screenshot to the folder: when I clicked Show File on the top citation in the Zotero window, this is where it directed me, which is the folder on my Google Drive that sits on my desktop that links to my tablet. So this is what I magically did somehow, without knowing that it was not getting into my Zotero library. Additionally, Zotfile then gives me the open to Send to Tablet, not Get From Tablet. :)
  • adamsmith
    So you're doing two things -- you're having ZotFile automatically move new files to Google drive and link them (that's the custom location in the general tab of the preferences) _and_ you use the Sent to Tablet function with the same folder.

    That seems redundant to me.

    If your goal is to store files in Zotero and only use Send to Tablet to send and retrieve items to the tablet via GDrive, select "Attach Stored copy of file" in the general tab of the ZotFile preferences.
  • klstanton
    So I only need the GDrive location in the second tab of settings for Zotfile, correct?

    How can I move the PDFs that have only one location as my GDrive into my local Zotero library?
  • adamsmith
    If you use Manage Attachments --> Rename ZotFile will move those back. Unfortunately that only works for individual items -- the batch functionality is broken in ZotFile (I believe -- worth trying)
  • klstanton
    Got an error on that, screenshot uploaded to the GDrive folder.

    However, on the file I got the error, I have both the options to Send To/Get From Tablet, so I hit Get from Tablet, and it popped back into my library, I believe.

    I caught it early enough in the process, so I'll just go through the list in my GDrive and pop them all back in through Zotero.

    Thanks for all this help! Maybe after this I'll just go through Zotero syncing, ha!
  • klstanton
    Just kidding, for anyone else out there.

    The best way to fix this problem is to copy all the files from GDrive into a folder in my Downloads, where Zotfile knows to go look and move and rename, and to look up the files in Zotero and drag and drop the ones from the tablet. This creates a local version in the Zotero library and resolves all the issues, I believe.
  • milacsantana
    > Unfortunately that only works for individual items -- the batch functionality is broken in ZotFile (I believe -- worth trying)

    Came here looking for a solution to this, but I believe it's indeed still broken. When I select multiple items and try to click on Manage Attachments --> Rename, it renames 1-3 items and never gets through the next one (no error message either).

    Does anyone have a fix for this? Thanks!
  • bwiernik
    Yes, the Zotfile batch rename is currently broken.
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