Zotfile extract annotations does not work (MC OS)

ah11r528
Hello everyone,

I use: Zotero 5.0.95.3, MacOS Big sur 11.1

I would love to use zotfile in order to extract annotations from pdfs. But unfortunately this does not work - there's an error-sign that says "Attachments skipped because they are top-level items, snapshots or the file does not exist". I am not sure whether some settings are wrong in my software, but can't find a solution. Can anybody help me?
Thank you!!

  • dstillman
    edited February 3, 2021
    If the PDFs are top-level items, you need to create parent items for them.

    From Retrieve PDF Metadata:
    If Zotero can find a match for the PDF, it will create a full Zotero item with the available data and attach the PDF. If it can't, it will leave the PDF as a standalone attachment, allowing you to add a parent item another way — either by saving an item from the web and dragging the PDF on top of it or by right-clicking on the PDF, choosing Create Parent Item, and entering an identifier such as a DOI or ISBN. If all else fails, you can click Manual Entry after selecting Create Parent Item and manually enter metadata for the item.
  • ah11r528
    Thank you!
  • kirgilh96
    edited February 3, 2021
    for me it's extracting but it doesn't create the annotations file as before ...
    i see the process being complete but no new folder is being created ...
    thats fairly new ...
    any hint on why it may not work?
  • dstillman
    for me it's extracting but it doesn't create the annotations file as before
    What do you mean by "annotations file"? Do you mean the note item?

    We can't really provide support for ZotFile, but if you provide a Debug ID for an operation that's not working, we might be able to tell you something.
  • kirgilh96
    thanks for the tip, it's the debug ID is D886239198.
  • kirgilh96
    yes, notes. zotfile renames it 'extracted annotations with date + time.
  • dstillman
    [JavaScript Error: "JSON.parse: expected property name or '}' at line 1 column 2 of the JSON data" {file: "chrome://zotfile/content/wildcards.js" line: 274}]
    From the looks of it you have invalid JSON entered for ZotFile wildcards.
  • kirgilh96
    ive deleted the wildcard. now it's this: D2132521409
  • dstillman
    You're still getting that error.
  • dstillman
    edited February 3, 2021
    Or, well, you're getting a different JSON parse error:
    [JavaScript Error: "JSON.parse: unexpected end of data at line 1 column 1 of the JSON data" {file: "chrome://zotfile/content/wildcards.js" line: 274}]
    You should reset the pref so that it's set to {}, not set it to an empty string.
  • kirgilh96
    yes, empty string was problem.
    i did all that nonsense in order to make zotfile rename my pdf's according to the citekeys ...
    i've posted the 'renaming problem' on zotfile's github issues page but no response so far ...
    thank you
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