Sync does not update document after location reset

Locating a file which cannot be found, which was obviously there befoe but that is another matter, does not update the document on another Machine.
One machine is a mac and the other is a PC.
The other machine, after a successful sync, still cannot update the file.
The only soultion is a disastrous delete the entry from everwhere and re-add.
Hopefull yit doesnt get lost again ... as many others have.
  • This is some sort of misunderstanding. Zotero doesn't delete files on disk unless you delete them from Zotero. That's the only way. So if files are missing, either you deleted the items in Zotero or you deleted the files outside of Zotero.
    The other machine, after a successful sync, still cannot update the file.
    I don't know what you mean by "update". If you think something is wrong with syncing, we'd want to see Debug IDs for the relevant syncs from both computers. See Files Not Syncing for help understanding how to think about this.
  • Yes there is some sort of misunderstanding.
    I never said the files were deleted from disk.
    Zotero's link cant find the files even though the files are still on disk.

    I cant give you a Debug ID as nothing fails.

    Zotero just can find the file, I have to locate it for it.
    Once I do the link is not updated on other computers/installations.
  • edited June 30, 2020
    Zotero's link cant find the files even though the files are still on disk.
    If you're getting a file-not-found dialog, the file doesn't exist where Zotero is looking. The file-not-found dialog includes the full path where it's looking. You won't find the file there if you look (unless there's some security software on your computer causing extremely strange behavior).

    The path where Zotero is looking is where the file previously was, either on this computer or another synced computer. So either the files were deleted outside of Zotero or they never synced to this computer to begin with.

    So again, unless you're deleting or moving files outside of Zotero, Files Not Syncing still sounds like the relevant documentation.
  • @dwoodhouse: Unless you're referring to linked files rather than stored files? In that case, the files wouldn't be synced by Zotero at all (and the Files Not Syncing page wouldn't be relevant). If all you're saying is you're using linked files and the files exist at different paths on different computers, you just need to set a Linked Attachment Base Directory on both computers so that the file locations are stored with relative paths.
  • No there are no linked files, everything should be in storage.
    I undertand that the file is not where zotero is looking but I have done nothing to change that.
    Upon review I suspect that the translation from a linked file to a stored file system is the root cause. Most files are fine but quite a few have wrong paths.
    Nothing in the documentation helps.
  • I suspect that the translation from a linked file to a stored file system is the root cause
    I'm not sure what you mean by that. Are you saying you used the Tools → Manage Attachments → Convert Linked Files to Stored Files feature, or something else?
  • If that is the process to go from a on-drive dB to a Cloud dB then yes.
  • edited July 6, 2020
    go from a on-drive dB to a Cloud dB
    There's no such thing as this. Zotero stores all data locally regardless of any settings. Stored files can sync, whereas linked files don't, if that's what you mean.

    But this is just a question of what exactly you've done. If you can't tell us that, it's hard for us to help you.
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