Zotero Opens PDF in Browser, Set to Open in Zotero in Preferences, Ubuntu

schradc · July 6, 2023

I recently installed Zotero 6.0.26 on Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS and imported my library from a flash drive. The library which included annotations was exported from a windows 11 machine.

I would prefer to view and annotate pdfs within zotero, but despite selecting this option in preferences, zotero continues to open pdfs in a browser.

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling zotero and restarting my device. Not sure what else to do to troubleshoot the issue. If I must, I can use a pdf viewer and zotfile, but I would rather fix this issue directly. Many Thanks.

dstillman · July 6, 2023

Going to be the same as this:

https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/105895/pdf-file-does-not-open-in-zotero

Note that if you really mean that you used export and import, you want to start again and transfer the library properly.

schradc · July 6, 2023

Bingo, just like in the linked forum post, I didn't realize I only had hyperlinks and not the actual pdf's in my copied libarary. This was because I used the import/export tool to copy my library. After copying over the actual Zotero data directory, everything works as it should.

Problem solved! Thanks a million.