Sync session

mjthoraval · July 26, 2022

I am working across different computers and OS at work and in the office.
I like the ability of Firefox and Chrome to sync the session, so that plugins, options and open tabs can be transferred between computers.

Is it possible to get something similar with Zotero, including syncing of plugins, options, open PDF files in the Zotero viewer, order of the columns, ...?
This information is probably already saved locally when closing and reopening Zotero. Having it synced to another computer would be very nice, in the same way as done for the browsers. Considering the large freedom in customizing Zotero, repeating the customization on 3 computers can be quite time consuming.
This should probably be optional, as some people may still want to have different sessions on different computers.

cjb · August 26, 2022

Was looking in the forum to see if others had suggested this! Seems like a couple at least (e.g. https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/93622/feature-suggestion-sync-open-tabs-and-save-load-tab-configurations/p1)

Would definitely help me as well, but I'm guessing it won't happen.

mjthoraval · August 26, 2022

Thank you for looking into this. I could also find this post giving a technical explanation why it is not likely to happen:
https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/80010/zotero-config-syncing-on-multiple-devices

And a few more, with a few different perspectives, including backup and transferring to a new computer:
https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/78395/is-it-possible-to-safely-synchronize-preferences-and-add-ons-across-computers
https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/75556/zotero-on-new-computer-how-to-copy-over-preferences-and-add-ons
https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/74452/how-to-back-up-zotero-settings-and-make-it-available-from-computer-a-to-computer-b

Hopefully it is helpful for others coming to this post.

cjb · August 26, 2022

Thanks for the references. Yes, wholesale syncing of everything is both unrealistic and undesirable. I wonder if syncing just open tabs/PDFs in reader might be a feasible optional feature, i.e. open Zotero and have your workspace restored from previous session on another machine. Though even that might be a 'nice in theory, chaos in practice' sort of thing. Does a logged-in Zotero intance currently have any way to know about other logged-in clients elsewhere? I'm guessing not. Thinking here in comparison to the way that Firefox (etc) manages devices on the same account: if it worked that way (registered devices on an account with shared history) I suppose that open tabs elsewhere could be looked up and pulled accross at least. But probably marginal net value in setting all that up.