Re-download deleted files

ranamihir95
Hi,

I deleted all my downloaded attachments (PDFs etc.) for my entire library by mistake. Now they seem to be gone from both the desktop app as well as the web library. I'm wondering if there's a way to re-downloaded all attachments, given that the web links to these PDFs still exist in the library.
Thanks!
  • dstillman
    Did you empty the trash? If not, you can restore them from there.
  • ranamihir95
    I don't see them in the trash either. :/ Not sure how they got deleted. Any way to bulk re-download them all?
  • dstillman
    When did you delete them? Items are removed from the trash automatically after 30 days by default.

    Can you explain what exactly you did and why?
  • dstillman
    In any case, if you fully deleted the attachments, you can use Find Available PDFs, which will find open-access PDFs. If you're on a direct institutional connection, VPN, or system-wide proxy with subscription access, that will find gated PDFs as well. A web-based proxy won't help for this.
  • ranamihir95
    I deleted them >30 days ago. I have two accounts and storage was filling up in one of them, so I thought of moving everything to a shared group instead (and splitting files across the two accounts). After I did that, I thought I'd have to delete them from my personal library to save storage, but I realize I just ended up deleting the files from everywhere.

    As for Find Available PDFs, I'm using the Mac desktop app v5.0.96.2 and the Chrome connector v5.0.84, with which I understand I should see a "Find Available PDF" option in the context menu on the app, but I don't see it there. Am I missing something?

    Thanks so much for your help!
  • dstillman
    You'll see Find Available PDF for items with no existing PDF and a URL or DOI.
  • ranamihir95
    I just re-checked -- yes, but the issue is that nearly all of them seem to have a "View PDF" option and then I'm asked to locate the missing PDF. So I guess is there a way to bulk-indicate I don't have any PDFs for them?
  • dstillman
    So you're saying you deleted the files on disk, not the attachment items in Zotero?

    In that case, you'd need to delete the attachment items before you could use Find Available PDFs. You can construct a search or saved search that matches only the attachments, do a Select All, and delete them.
  • ranamihir95
    I think I deleted the attachments from the web library, and in doing so when I synced the app, it deleted the files from the app too. Will what you said work in that scenario?
  • dstillman
    If you deleted attachments from the web library, those would have been the attachment items, and you wouldn't get the file-not-found warning, because the attachment items wouldn't exist. Deleting files on disk would be something you did locally outside of Zotero.

    In any case, again, if you want to Find Available PDFs to appear, there can't be a PDF attachment item below the parent item and the parent item needs to have a DOI or URL. Make that happen, and you can use the feature.
  • ranamihir95
    Got it. I think I'll try to delete the attachments then. As for your earlier comment though, if I construct a search query, select all, and try to delete, won't it delete the entire item? How do I ensure only the attachments are deleted?
  • dstillman
    Select All only selects the search matches.
  • ranamihir95
    Sorry, I don't understand. On the app, I change the search options to "Title, Creator, Year", and I search for "2019" (e.g.) which gives me all papers published in 2019. Then I select them all and do "Move items to trash". But that deletes the whole items.
  • dstillman
    edited April 18, 2021
    You need to search for the child items, not the parents. "Title, Creator, Year" only matches parent items. The search matches will be in black, whereas context rows will be in gray.
  • ranamihir95
    Awesome! This works perfectly. Thanks so much @dstillman!
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