Items regularly not saving to Zotero

When I find a PDF to save in Chrome they are regularly not saving to Zotero even when PDF icon showing - I click on it and nothing happens. Just as commonly the PDF icon often isn't showing either. It's so easy when it does work and so frustrating when it doesn't. Right clicking on the PDF or the Zotero icone doesn't help either - I can selct 'Save to Zotero' but nothing happens.
  • Can you provide a Debug ID from both the Zotero Connector and Zotero for loading a PDF and trying to save it unsuccessfully?
  • That's only from Zotero, and only for Zotero startup — if you did a save during that time, nothing made it to Zotero. We need both the Zotero Connector and Zotero, covering a load and save attempt.
  • 'nothing made it to Zotero' - exactly!
  • Right, but I'm asking for specific info to be able to help you.
  • D1058664038 in Zotero connector
  • edited August 8, 2019
    You're trying to save a local file on your computer (i.e., a file:// URL). That won't work — you need to be viewing a PDF online. Browsers won't let us save on a file:// URL.
  • It looks like you might be opening that from some Microsoft messaging app that downloads the file to a local cache. You'll need to instead just save the file somewhere and drag the PDF to Zotero.
  • that works but i still can't save a pdf with the pdf icon... will provide debug id shortly
  • D15230066 zotero
    D19610981 connector (chrome)
  • edited August 8, 2019
    That Zotero Connector Debug ID doesn't show you loading the PDF and trying to save it, only switching to the already-open tab.
  • D643718856
    D483496040 (chrome connector)

    I'm still unable to save PDFs using the PDF - sometimes it isn't even there
  • Please don't create duplicate threads or @ people unnecessarily. I quickly responded to all of your original messages above, and you just followed up today, five days later. We read every thread and are generally able to respond fairly quickly, but you need to wait for more than a handful of hours before demanding further attention.
  • @john.ferrier: So I can reproduce the PDF-saving failure if I click on the PDF link on the article page you were on, which opens the PDF in a new tab. Something about the new tab creation is breaking this in current versions of Chrome. (It works fine in Firefox.) If I simply reload the PDF in that new tab, it works properly, as does following a normal PDF link that doesn't open in a new tab.

    We'll look into this. Note, though, that this particular case shouldn't come up in normal usage, because you should just save from the article page, which also attaches the PDF automatically. If you do run into this somewhere where there's no article page, just reload the PDF and it should work.
  • thank you, I'm slightly confused - why shouldn't this happen in normal usage - I thought the benefit of the software is that I can save the PDF directly to Zotero by clicking the PDF icon - that is the normal usage isn't it?

    I think you're suggesting that I open PDFs in the same tab in order for the ability to save to work? Cheers
  • You don't want to generally save while viewing just the PDF page. Instead, you want to save from the journal article abstract page, which will grab both the PDF and the highest quality metadata.

    For example, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/industrial-and-organizational-psychology/article/personality-assessment-for-work-legal-io-and-clinical-perspective/CF7AC8DF89997F198BDDE9AC72DBB945
  • sorry,

    where on that page would I click to save the PDF and the metadata - none of it works, I can't save anything to zotero
  • You just click the normal Save to Zotero button. It will save high-quality metadata, and if you have access to the PDF it will download that as well.
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