Separate Zotero-app users, but shared file storage

edited April 26, 2021
Hi all,

Because of the issues with Zotero performance (in my setup) https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/85808/speeding-up-zotero-including-search#latest I've created several profiles. The different profiles synchronise different (sets of) group libraries, which reduced local database usage and speeds up the process.

Because there is overlap between the group libraries loaded by each profile, one issue with this approach is that I then need to potentially download attachments several times (for different local users accessing a group library that's common to two or more local users).

I have heard that it's ok to just delete the Zotero storage, and let it resync if needed. If that's correct, then maybe the local database itself doesn't really know what's been downloaded and what hasn't? Or at least "doesn't mind changes" to downloaded files.

My question is this: Suppose I have two or more local profiles, could I hardlink the storage directories without adverse effects?

In other words, would it be ok if e.g.,

~/Zotero//Zotero-default/storage
~/Zotero/Zotero_user_1/storage
~/Zotero/Zotero_user_2/storage

are not separate directories, but hardlinked?

  • I have heard that it's ok to just delete the Zotero storage
    No, we've never said this. You can delete attachment files from 'storage' (e.g., by doing a search for PDFs within that folder). You should never just delete 'storage', which contains internal files used for full-text searching and PDF reader state.

    Not going to comment on hard-linking the directories. That's obviously not remotely something we would support.
  • edited April 26, 2021
    But just to be clear, no, you shouldn't mix files from different data directories. If you want to save disk space, use "as needed" file-sync mode. An upcoming version of Zotero will let you configure how long to save downloaded files locally to save space.
  • Thanks for feedback.

    " An upcoming version of Zotero will let you configure how long to save downloaded files locally to save space."

    That's very helpful - a few of our users are struggling with disk space needed for larger libraries.
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