Cannot Attach Files or Attachment Not Working (No error messages)

smckella
Report ID: 1272230630

Zotero version: 5.0.94

BACKGROUND:
I have used the free Zotero for years, and I did not pay attention to syncing it online or Zotero cloud since I've been a broke grad student not wanting to pay the extra fees. I perhaps around 3.5 GB of Zotero PDF on my computer, so online, there us just the names without the PDF. I have had no problems attaching PDFs files in the past locally.

ISSUE:
Recently, when I try to drag and drop pdf files (or any files for that matter) into Zotero OR when I tried "Add Attachment" to an Item. The pdf doesn't upload. There isn't any error or anything that occurs. I have tried reinstalling Zotero again on my computer, and it's the same issue. All my old pdf attachments are there, so the only issue is that I can't attach new files to items or as separate from items.

ACTIONS POSSIBLE RELATED:
While I don't know what happened, around the same time the issue happened, I opened up the sync settings once and perhaps changed something but I don't remember or don't recall changing anything.

HELP WITH:
How do I get pdf to continue to attach to my local Zotero app?
However, I'm wondering if I messed up being able to attach a new pdf to my Zotero somehow. Why are files not uploading into Zotero? Until recently, it has been possible to still store greater than 300 MB of data locally on Zotero on your desktop (there was a yellow caution error, but ignoring it for years has worked even with updates to Zotero).

I ran a debug process and also submitting the Report ID here.

Thank you so much in advance for helping me.
-S
  • adamsmith
    edited January 11, 2021
    This is still completely unrelated to your online storage. Local storage is always unlimited and you can always attach files to items in your local library, just as has always been the case.

    You should probably disable file syncing in Zotero (in the sync tab of the preferences) since continuously hitting the file sync warning can slow Zotero down (and you don't seem to be using it anyway).

    Just to make sure it's clear what you're seeing: You have an item in Zotero selected, you right-click --> Add Attachment --> Add stored copy of file
    You're then still able to navigate to a file on your computer and select it (?)
    You click OK and then --> nothing?
    Is that correct?
  • dstillman
    [JavaScript Error: "Unix error 1 during operation makeDir on file /Users/[…]/Zotero/storage/LVAYDPDJ (Operation not permitted)" {file: "(unknown module)" line: 0}]
    @smckella: This is very likely due to some security software you have installed on your computer. That's not common on macOS, but there's not much else that could cause this error.
  • smckella
    @adamsmith Yes, that is exactly correct. I can navigate to the file and click on it, but after I click on a file, no files will attach or upload to my Zotero online. The same thing happens when I drag and drop. Across two different browsers (the only 2 I tried), it will create an item, but the file doesn't upload. So the consistent issue is that I can't get files into Zotero library on my local drive/desktop. *When I try to link a file it works though, it just won't put the file in the local Zotero storage.

    When I attempt to upload a file/pdf, the item still gets the small arrow that shows up t, but nothing is there.

    It's helpful to know it has nothing to do with storage.

    It might have something to do with sync, since that was the only setting that may have been altered before files stopped attaching. I tried unchecking all sync options and the same thing happens.

    @dstillman I don't have any software on my computer that I could think of that would box Zotero. Is there anything I could check for or look for? Right now I have Mac OS X Catalina operating system. There is an update to a new system on Mac OS X called Big Sur. Do you think this would matter?

    *I can run another report.
    I also create a debugging output log: D757894337

    Any ideas of what next steps to take. I'm at a loss.

    Thank you so much in advance again!
    S
  • smckella
    Okay, I figured it out.

    While I have your attention though, I am going to ask an unrelated question. If I update to Big Sur on my computer will Zotero be compatible with this Mac OS x update? *

    SOLUTION:
    For some reason, the entire Zotero Storage folder was "locked" on my Mac. I think this occurred when I backed up the folder onto an external hard drive. Not sure how.

    Just unlocking it seems to fix it.

    Well, at least this chain is here in case someone else locks their storage folder in Zotero or something in Mac does this automatically.
  • dstillman
    If I update to Big Sur on my computer will Zotero be compatible with this Mac OS x update?
    Yes, Zotero is fully compatible with Big Sur.
    For some reason, the entire Zotero Storage folder was "locked" on my Mac. I think this occurred when I backed up the folder onto an external hard drive. Not sure how.

    Just unlocking it seems to fix it.
    OK, great.
  • aauxilio
    To smckella & Zotero administrator:

    Can you please show here how to unlock the zotero storage folder?

    I have the same issue here. I just started using zotero and at first I was able to attach a pdf file using the "Attached Stored Copy of File" function but then it just stopped attaching a pdf file. There are no error messages being displayed.

    Thanks in advance.
    --AA
  • dittaeva
    Hi,

    I have the same issue on 5.0.96 on an flatpak version on MX Linux. Probably came about after I upgraded to 5.0.96, don't know from which version, but flatpaks don't upgrade automatically, so maybe a version from 6 months back.
  • dittaeva
    Hi again,

    I found out that the issue was a flatpak issue, as covered here: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/86363/zotero-can-no-longer-access-my-folders

    and solved for me with:
    sudo flatpak override --system --filesystem=home
This discussion has been closed.