Question regarding syncing full directory

watdryhope
Hello,
I'm using an Onyx Boox device and I'm having some issues with syncing. I'm currently using WebDav.

I wanted to know whether it was possible, instead of using Zoo for zotero, if I could give my boox device access to the entire Zotero storage directory kept on my computer. The plan would be to edit documents on the boox, which, using Autosync on Android, would update my cloud storage service. I know there are some issues with this process because of the way Zotero saves each entry under a unique folder id. However, I'm wondering if my syncing the whole storage directory would bypass this?

Thanks
  • adamsmith
    Just syncing the storage folder should mostly be fine as long as you make absolutely sure to not sync it's parent folder ("zotero"), which contains the Zotero database.

    I don't quite follow the issue with individual folders -- whether that's a problem or not depends on what you're seeing on Boox.
  • watdryhope
    Thanks for this. I just meant that I wasn't sure if I sync the storage folder that there may be some issue when my boox device updates the pdfs. Say, if the metadata changes for some reason, which would then corrupt Zotero once the boox pdf has been reuploaded to the zotero storage folder.
  • adamsmith
    Depends on what you mean by "corrupt" -- Zotero doesn't read PDF metadata, so that part is fine.
    What might break is if you're also using Zotero'd PDF reader/annotator. It's not super-likely, but it's possible those annotations will break if you edit the PDF with another PDF reader, which is why it's generally recommended you either stick to using external PDF readers or the internal one across all devices (which, I realize, isn't an option on a Boox)
  • watdryhope
    Thanks. So the idea would be to copy the whole storage folder to my boox device. I have an app that syncs between the boox device and my cloud storage provider. The idea would be that I would set the folder on the boox to "two way," meaning that all changes made to the folder on my computer would be synced to the local folder on the boox. once I had edited and saved a pdf using the boox reader, in theory these annotations should be saved, and then uploaded to the zotero folder.

    do you think this would work?
  • adamsmith
    I think so, yes. Again, though, make sure your cloud storage allows you to only sync storage, not the zotero folder it's in.
  • watdryhope
    thanks.
  • FredH281
    @whatdryhope could you please share what app you use for the two-way sync between your boox device and computer?

    And do you think webDAV may be better than the two-way sync app once the android app is released?

  • watdryhope
    Right now I've been using an android app called autosync. I didn't know an android app was on the roadmap. What's the timeline for that?
  • FredH281
    edited November 13, 2023
    Ok, thank you.
    They never provide estimations for new features, but I read somewhere on the forum that they may release the beta version of the Android app this year.

    Syncing between the Android and Windows would work best via webDAV if I understood this repsonse of adamsmith correctly: "Use WebDAV. Linked files won't work on either mobile app". https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/102102/any-plan-to-make-an-official-app-for-android/p2
  • watdryhope
    Amazing. Thanks for the info. I would be fully on board with using an Android app using webdav. It's my preference since I have a lifetime cloud account with pcloud and use webdav at the moment to sync. The problem is is that Zoo for Zotero for Android has not been exactly reliable for accessing or reuploading my pdfs once edited on the Boox.

    Currently on Linux rather than windows, but it shouldn't pose much of a problem since Zotero for Linux supports Webdav for Sync too.

    Thanks for the info!
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