Upgrade StorageMendeley import questions
Hello,
I'm intending to switch from Mendeley to Zotero and have imported my Mendeley library into Zotero. I imported into an empty Zotero library (I created a fresh Zotero local/app profile and a fresh local library/data folder) and I used online import option described at the following link (rather than import from Mendeley desktop):
https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/mendeley_import
The import seems to have worked well as far as I can tell, but I have a few questions...
1) The import process included making a decision on the following option:
"place imported collections and items into new collection"
I'm not sure what this means and I can't see the option described at the link above. So left it unchecked (which I think was the default). My Mendeley collections appear to have been imported correctly, including sub-collections. But I'm wondering what would have happened if I had selected the option. Would all my Mendeley collections have been imported as sub-collections within a single collection/folder in Zotero?
2) When I click the "My Library" folder in Zotero, the item count matches what I see when I click "All Documents" in Mendeley (so I think everything has been imported). But at the end of the Zotero import process the import window/dialog reported a much higher number of items imported - it was around 1.5 times the item count I see when I click "My Library". Am curious why this discrepancy exists?
3) I've noticed the import process has renamed my PDFs. I'm not keen on the way Zotero renames PDFs from the metadata (Year - Title). Is there any way to customise the renaming (for example I'd prefer Year - Author - Journal)? If there is, is there a way to apply this as a batch operation to PDFs that have already been imported?
4) I assume if I repeated the import process with the automatic renaming option unchecked in General Preferences, the renaming would not happen. Is that correct?
5) My Zotero online storage account is currently linked to a different local Zotero profile. If I want to instead link it to this new Zotero profile can I simply turn off Data Syncing on the old local profile, purge the data in my online storage account (using the purge option at https://www.zotero.org/settings/storage), and then turn on syncing with the new local profile?
Ultimately I am looking to replace what's currently in my online storage with this new database, rather than merge the contents.
I'm intending to switch from Mendeley to Zotero and have imported my Mendeley library into Zotero. I imported into an empty Zotero library (I created a fresh Zotero local/app profile and a fresh local library/data folder) and I used online import option described at the following link (rather than import from Mendeley desktop):
https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/mendeley_import
The import seems to have worked well as far as I can tell, but I have a few questions...
1) The import process included making a decision on the following option:
"place imported collections and items into new collection"
I'm not sure what this means and I can't see the option described at the link above. So left it unchecked (which I think was the default). My Mendeley collections appear to have been imported correctly, including sub-collections. But I'm wondering what would have happened if I had selected the option. Would all my Mendeley collections have been imported as sub-collections within a single collection/folder in Zotero?
2) When I click the "My Library" folder in Zotero, the item count matches what I see when I click "All Documents" in Mendeley (so I think everything has been imported). But at the end of the Zotero import process the import window/dialog reported a much higher number of items imported - it was around 1.5 times the item count I see when I click "My Library". Am curious why this discrepancy exists?
3) I've noticed the import process has renamed my PDFs. I'm not keen on the way Zotero renames PDFs from the metadata (Year - Title). Is there any way to customise the renaming (for example I'd prefer Year - Author - Journal)? If there is, is there a way to apply this as a batch operation to PDFs that have already been imported?
4) I assume if I repeated the import process with the automatic renaming option unchecked in General Preferences, the renaming would not happen. Is that correct?
5) My Zotero online storage account is currently linked to a different local Zotero profile. If I want to instead link it to this new Zotero profile can I simply turn off Data Syncing on the old local profile, purge the data in my online storage account (using the purge option at https://www.zotero.org/settings/storage), and then turn on syncing with the new local profile?
Ultimately I am looking to replace what's currently in my online storage with this new database, rather than merge the contents.
2. That's because importer also counts child items.
3. Do you mean the actual file names on disk? I believe Mendeley importer preserves file names, regardless of the renaming option in the preferences?
5. If you're happy with your local library and are absolutely sure you want to override remote one, you could use "Replace Online Library" option described here: https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/sync_reset_options#replace_online_library
3) I meant actual file names on disk. I had noticed discrepancies between the on disk names of some PDFs files in my Zotero data folder and my Mendeley Desktop folder, which gave me the impression the importer in Zotero was renaming PDFs. But looking further into this I've noticed the discrepancy for these particular files also exists between Mendeley Desktop and Mendeley Web. So the issue is between Mendeley Desktop and Mendeley Web.
5) Thanks. I'll give this a go.
That setting will apply to all files added going forward
Bulk applying that going backwards is a bit awkward but possible: Do an advance search for Attachment file type -- is -- PDF
create a saved search
select all (ctrl+a/cmd+a on a Mac)
and the use right-click Rename files from parent metadata.