@wileyyu Many thanks for creating this! I remember that with Zotero for iOS the zotfile functionality does not work for pointing to pdfs in iCloud, say. Does that work for ZotMoov or does it only point to files on the Mac? Many thanks again!
Ah ok. Is there any plan for a future workaround - either compatibility with storage to iCloud, Dropbox or similar? Or the ability to 'Show File' or is only Zotero storage going to be supported for iOS?
As I understand, certainly with current plans, linked files are not going to work in either the iOS or (forthcoming) Android app (mainly for technical reasons), nor are there any plans to support a specific, proprietary file sync service like Dropbox, Box, or iCloud (which would be completely arbitrary in what would be supported). Both WebDAV -- as a widely available and open protocol -- and Zotero Storage work on iOS and will work on Android.
Would providing linked files within Zotero on desktop not be a compromise ? A main reason why I moved to Zotero from Mendeley was to stay in control of PDFs and syncing. It's much more important to me than syncing via Zotero Storage on iOS or Android. And I'm quite worried that when Zotero 6 sync will eventually stop, then there will be no choice.
You can add linked files in Zotero on desktop. The only thing going away with Zotfile is the automatic moving and linking of files. You can still manually add linked items.
Well, and as per the above, there's ZotMoov, which works on Zotero 7, so (assuming that works), that problem is solved, too.
It's not my call, but as I say above, I think it makes good sense for Zotero's core team to stay clear of auto-linked files as a natively supported feature. They're a support mess because things (outside of Zotero's control) keep breaking, they don't (and can't really) work for a bunch of things (groups, web, apps), they introduce all sorts of confusion (likely even more so with newer Zotero features like images syncing for notes). Obviously people want to use them and Zotero (also obviously) is extensible for people to use them, but imo it makes a lot of sense that they don't want to put themselves in a position where they feel they need to provide full support for all that comes with them.
I've been using zotero storage for things I want to be available on ios and pc. The other stuff sits on OneDrive and I copy to Zotero's storage when I need to. I think it's simpler and I'd rather pay for storage for zotero than for Apple. My compliments for the great work. The app on IOS looks great. The apple pen works well for annotating in the text.
@michael.amherst Just to confirm with what has been said earlier, unfortunately the ZotMoov addon does not work with the iOS version for Zotero. It does work with all versions of Zotero on the desktop however, and I am still active patching bugs to ensure it will work on Zotero 7!
Out of interest, what happens with a linked PDF file (stored that way via the desktop app) when in the iOS phone app ?
Let's say I have my linked PDFs in G:\ZoteroAttachments on *all* my PCs ... so no need for a LABD setting, and thus G:\ZoteroAttachments is included as part of each linked PDF file's explicit full path in the sqlite database, eg G:\ZoteroAttachments\filename.pdf (ie what Zotero calls absolute paths).
If I attempt to load a linked PDF in the iOS app does it just say "The attached file cannot be found at the following path: G:\ZoteroAttachments\filename.pdf" ?
And if so, would a symlink pointing the G:\ZoteroAttachments path instead to an actual cloud location (accessible under iOS) of the PDFs 'work', and allow the PDF to be found (ie as it would in Windows with a symlink, and I assume also on a Mac) ?
@dstillman: I still think the devs could clarify a lot and make life easier for the users here if they answered the questions I posed further above:
-Will the android app be released at the moment when zotero 7 will be officially released? -Or at least: Will the android app be released at a time before zotero 6 will become entirely defunct (or will zotero continue to offer version 6 for download after the official introduction of zotero 7)? -Which parts of zotfile will be included into zotero at some point and what is the order of their inclusion? -Which parts of zotfile will never be included into zotero?
Some of this is public knowledge: Zotero offers all old versions for download, and given how sync works for version 5+, it's unlikely that will break quickly. As always, they won't provide any support for older versions though.
Renaming that's close to feature parity with Zotfile is implemented in the code, might actually even be available in the beta, though not documented yet)
I just installed and tested it. I am pleased to report to the community that Zotero-file is working beautifully. It renamed and moved my file to the right directory.
Hmmm .... I don't get how to install this update. Most of the explanation in "read me" is in Chinese. Could someone explain how to install this plugin after downloading from GitHub?
@mitchellm Zotero File is a new plugin based on Zotfile. It can be installed as any other Zotero plugin:
To install a plugin in Zotero, download its .xpi file to your computer. Then, in Zotero, click “Tools → Add-ons” and drag the .xpi onto the Add-ons window.
It is great to see some plugins popping up that try to replace ZotFile's functionality!
It might still be the case that certain tablet files from zotfile are inaccessible from Zotero 7. To address this problem, I put together a small Zotero 7 plugin that makes it possible to recover these files. It think that is a better approach than the one I tried above (now deleted comment to avoid confusion). The only function of this plugin is to use the "Get from tablet" function in Zotero 7 to recover files that are otherwise not accessible from Zotero 7.
@polygon: This is fantastic! Thank you so much. I wanted to send a donation, but the QR codes on github lead to nothing. Also: Are you planning to implement the send to tablet file functionality at some point?
1. Attaching recently added files -- I don't think this is getting a ton of use, but I've definitely had projects where that's been quite useful. Seems maybe a bit tricky in terms of UX, but non-contentious feature-wise
| As I understand, certainly with current plans, linked files are not going to work in either the iOS or (forthcoming) Android app (mainly for technical reasons)
@adamsmith Is there any info available on the technical reasons keeping linked files from working on Android? I know iOS is very locked down but know that other Android apps can easily offer similar access to a particular folderpath in the system as long as the user gives it directory permission (i.e. give Zotero permission to access the linked files directory there).
Also can addons be developed for Android? I imagine they'd have to be separate from their desktop counterparts but am curious if the community could make an addon for this and renaming files there instead.
Dan Stillman mentioned that they have warned the zotero file developer about their use of the word "zotero" in the name of the plugin. I guess this is the reason why it is not there atm, but I hope the developer will simply rename it, and upload again. It would be sad if the conflict about naming plugins meant that plugins get withdrawn. see here: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/108776/e-reader-integration-with-zotero#latest
Upgrade Storage
It's not my call, but as I say above, I think it makes good sense for Zotero's core team to stay clear of auto-linked files as a natively supported feature. They're a support mess because things (outside of Zotero's control) keep breaking, they don't (and can't really) work for a bunch of things (groups, web, apps), they introduce all sorts of confusion (likely even more so with newer Zotero features like images syncing for notes). Obviously people want to use them and Zotero (also obviously) is extensible for people to use them, but imo it makes a lot of sense that they don't want to put themselves in a position where they feel they need to provide full support for all that comes with them.
My compliments for the great work. The app on IOS looks great. The apple pen works well for annotating in the text.
Let's say I have my linked PDFs in G:\ZoteroAttachments on *all* my PCs ... so no need for a LABD setting, and thus G:\ZoteroAttachments is included as part of each linked PDF file's explicit full path in the sqlite database, eg G:\ZoteroAttachments\filename.pdf (ie what Zotero calls absolute paths).
If I attempt to load a linked PDF in the iOS app does it just say "The attached file cannot be found at the following path: G:\ZoteroAttachments\filename.pdf" ?
And if so, would a symlink pointing the G:\ZoteroAttachments path instead to an actual cloud location (accessible under iOS) of the PDFs 'work', and allow the PDF to be found (ie as it would in Windows with a symlink, and I assume also on a Mac) ?
I still think the devs could clarify a lot and make life easier for the users here if they answered the questions I posed further above:
-Will the android app be released at the moment when zotero 7 will be officially released?
-Or at least: Will the android app be released at a time before zotero 6 will become entirely defunct (or will zotero continue to offer version 6 for download after the official introduction of zotero 7)?
-Which parts of zotfile will be included into zotero at some point and what is the order of their inclusion?
-Which parts of zotfile will never be included into zotero?
Zotero offers all old versions for download, and given how sync works for version 5+, it's unlikely that will break quickly. As always, they won't provide any support for older versions though.
Renaming that's close to feature parity with Zotfile is implemented in the code, might actually even be available in the beta, though not documented yet)
This plugin use zotfile code to build a plugin that can run in zotero 7.
All settings are same as zotfile in zotero 6.
Has anybody in this forum tried zotero-file please?
I want to try Zotero 7 because I have been stuck to 6 because of Zotfile.
(I use it to move and rename; nothing fancy).
It can be installed as any other Zotero plugin: https://www.zotero.org/support/plugins
You can find the .xpi file in the Releases page of the GitHub page of the plugin:
https://github.com/MuiseDestiny/zotero-file/releases
It might still be the case that certain tablet files from zotfile are inaccessible from Zotero 7. To address this problem, I put together a small Zotero 7 plugin that makes it possible to recover these files. It think that is a better approach than the one I tried above (now deleted comment to avoid confusion). The only function of this plugin is to use the "Get from tablet" function in Zotero 7 to recover files that are otherwise not accessible from Zotero 7.
https://github.com/jlegewie/ZotFile-Recovery/releases/tag/v0.2.0
Also: Are you planning to implement the send to tablet file functionality at some point?
@adamsmith Is there any info available on the technical reasons keeping linked files from working on Android? I know iOS is very locked down but know that other Android apps can easily offer similar access to a particular folderpath in the system as long as the user gives it directory permission (i.e. give Zotero permission to access the linked files directory there).
Also can addons be developed for Android? I imagine they'd have to be separate from their desktop counterparts but am curious if the community could make an addon for this and renaming files there instead.
https://github.com/MuiseDestiny/zotero-file/releases
I wonder whether https://github.com/wileyyugioh/zotmoov is sufficient and has the same features
see here: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/108776/e-reader-integration-with-zotero#latest