[Report D918160132] - Not automatically renaming PDF in Zotero

hu-itanu
I have selected auto renaming for downloaded pdfs. The actual file in windows is renamed correctly, but the pdf entry in Zotero is not being changed. It still says "Full Text PDF" even after restarting the program, there is no change. I must change it automatically. I have no plugins enabled. The ID above is for a download from JStor and this one, D1604750174, is from a download from ProQuest. Boith exhibit the same behavior.
Thanks
  • adamsmith
    That's the title of the attachment in Zotero and intended to be like that, (you have the article title right above it, so no need to duplicate that)
  • hu-itanu
    Thanks for the reply Adam. I'm not sure I understand though.

    (1) When I add a pdf and Zotero searches automatically for the citation data, it also changes the PDF title of the attachment. Why should adding a pdf through the browser plugin be any different?

    (2) Having thousands of attachments with same name "Full Text PDF" does not seem helpful, especially if the pdf gets detached from the citation.

    (3) The windows filename is changed, and therefore having the attachment name and file name different does not seem wise, or the standard practice with other entries.

    (4) I may be wrong, but I believe this behavior is rather new.
  • adamsmith
    1) Yes, that's indeed inconsistent, not sure why, but the find/retrieve metadata workflow has always been considered secondary by Zotero devs.

    2) It's helpful in situations such as this (to pick a very recent example): https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/100873/how-to-not-include-any-attachment-for-local-zotero-library-entries#latest and others in which quickly identifying the attachments in a search is helpful,
    and helps to distinguish these from other attachments such as attached supplementary materials, various forms of open access PDFs Zotero automatically attaches etc.

    3) I don't see that -- the filename is still visible in the info pane on the right if you do need it.

    4) No, Zotero has worked this way for years, I believe actually from the start.
  • dstillman
    (1) When I add a pdf and Zotero searches automatically for the citation data, it also changes the PDF title of the attachment. Why should adding a pdf through the browser plugin be any different?
    When you save from the web, the translator knows what you're saving — full-text PDF, OA PDF, supplemental PDF, etc. — and can set an appropriate attachment title. When metadata retrieval is run on a PDF, the translator doesn't have anything to do with saving the file itself, so it can't set an attachment title.

    We could do what we do now and use the renamed filename, but it's confusing, because it conflates the attachment title and filename (and I think causes a lot of people to think that the attachment title is always showing the filename).

    We could use the base part of the original filename, but that's confusing for the same reason and even weirder because we're already changing the filename based on the retrieved metadata.

    Or we could just use "PDF". Maybe that's the least-confusing option.
  • hu-itanu
    Understood - thanks you both for your replies and explanations.
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