Issue with link to file synchronization on Onedrive

franticparticle
Hello, apologies if this question has been proposed already - could I please ask you to forward me to the relevant discussion in case?

I have zotero installed on my personal laptop, which is running Windows 10 Home, and another laptop, which is running Kubuntu 22, where I also have zotero.
I'm wondering what is the best approach to synchronize pdf files between these two laptops? at the moment, I am using a onedrive folder, and I'm saving the pdfs to it. I've tried using zotfile, but everytime it's renaming the file, it's creating a copy which causes multiple duplicates.

any suggestions? thank you very much.
  • adamsmith
    I mean -- the best approach is using Zotero File Storage, which will, in almost all cases, just work and not require you to ever think about this again.

    Second best is using a WebDAV service for file syncing. Third best is figuring out what's not working with ZotFile -- what you're seeing isn't typical.
  • franticparticle
    thanks - my issue is that the provided zotero file storage is already full, and I'm looking for alternatives. What would be a recommended WebDAV software? thank you very much!

  • tim820
    Exactly how are you saving to the onedrive folder with Zotfile ?
  • franticparticle
    @tim820 I'm saving a copy of the PDF to the onedrive folder, then from zotero I do "rename attachments", which I see renames the pdf file by creating a copy. the entry in zotero replaces correctly the file with a linked file, but on the onedrive folder the copy remains. So when I open it from the other laptop, it's adding at least one copy of that file.
  • tim820
    edited November 10, 2023
    OK, it's still a little unclear how you are using Zotfile/Zotero linked PDF files.

    The most common way of using Zotfile is to first have the Zotero web connector do the PDF download (and item creation) from a journal article web page (where you have access rights to the PDF). Then Zotfile kicks in automatically and moves the PDF to the Custom Location folder (as specified in Zotfile Preferences) as a linked PDF file. There is only one copy of that PDF.

    But it sounds like you either have PDFs file already in a onedrive folder (eg from before you started using Zotero), or you are saving new PDFs to that folder in some other way ? There are ways to add such files to Zotero as linked PDF files.

    Where are you seeing "rename attachments" in Zotero ? That's not what the Zotfile option is called (and that Zotfile option is for renaming/moving items currently in *local* storage under Zotero\storage to the Custom Location folder, and/or renaming an existing linked PDF file).


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