Why is Zotero renaming my PDFs

jlott
When I add a PDF to the book entry in my Zotero library, the PDF is being slightly renamed. For example, I set up a book titled "Hiking info test" and then I added a PDF entitled "hiking info" and Zotero renames the PDF "hiking info test." In other cases the PDF has been renamed with parts of the author's name or part of the book's date.

Why is Zotero renaming my PDFs and how can I stop Zotero from doing this?
  • dstillman
    If you save a file from the web, Zotero always sets the filename based on the parent item metadata. Fles on the web generally don't have filenames, so that's not even configurable — that's just how it works.

    For local files, if you drag a file to Zotero, it will rename the stored file — the file it copies into the Zotero data directory — based on the parent item metadata by default. You can disable that from the General pane of the Zotero settings, though we generally recommend letting Zotero automatically manage filenames. It won't touch the original file that you dragged, though you'd normally want to delete that after dragging it to Zotero.

    It won't rename linked files by default, though that's also configurable in the settings.
  • jlott
    Thanks for your answer.

    I often reference PDFs in non-Zotero contexts by using the name that I give the PDF and then using a search utility to locate the file in Zotero's folder on my hard drive. If Zotero fiddles with the name that I expect the PDF to have, then my search might not find it.

    Why does Zotero feel a need to rename the files and is there some advantage to allowing Zotero to do so?

    Also, can I go to the Zotero "storage" folder that holds all the PDFs, manually change the name of a PDF in that folder, and still expect Zotero to function properly?
  • adamsmith
    Why does Zotero feel a need to rename the files and is there some advantage to allowing Zotero to do so?
    Because having an automated tool rather than manually effort take care of repetitive tasks that benefit from consistency is one of the reasons people use reference managers -- I'd guess >>90% of users want this feature. But as dstillman says: you can disable it.
    Also, can I go to the Zotero "storage" folder that holds all the PDFs, manually change the name of a PDF in that folder, and still expect Zotero to function properly?
    No. If you change the filename of any file -- stored or linked -- that Zotero points to in your file system. Zotero will no longer open it. You can, however change file names in the righ-hand panel of Zotero when a file/attachment is selected.
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