No PDF access in group library with unlimited storage

lovajansson
Hi team,

My Zotero group is having issues accessing PDFs in a shared library - they're greyed out for all members and we get the following message:

"The attached file could not be found at the following path:

/Users/lovajansson/Zotero/storage/HZUI339Z/Amin and Eman - 2020 - A Review of Research into Google Apps in the Proce.pdf

It may have been moved or deleted outside of Zotero, or, if the file was added on another computer, it may not yet have been synced to zotero.org."

To solve this problem, we recently transferred ownership of the group library to a member who doesn't use Zotero for anything except this library, and she purchased unlimited storage. We have also synced our accounts and have file syncing enabling 'at sync time' using Zotero storage. But the issue persists.

I have read a few forums on similar topics but can't quite work out what to do. Any help appreciated!
  • dstillman
    edited December 2, 2023
    See Files Not Syncing. Only a few (<10) files have been uploaded to the online library.
  • lovajansson
    Thanks!

    So can't access the PDFs on any device, the library owner has not reached their storage quota, file syncing is enabled, there's no syncing error indicated, file editing is enabled for all members of the group. Can you confirm this means I should follow these instructions from the post you linked? :

    "If Device A is a computer, the file hasn't been uploaded correctly, and syncing completes without a sync error, go to the Sync → Reset pane of the Zotero preferences on Computer A and select Reset File Sync History for the library in question. (Do not use any other options in the Reset pane.)"

    Thanks!
  • dstillman
    edited December 2, 2023
    So can't access the PDFs on any device
    Well, what do you mean by this? The main point of these instructions is to identify on which device the problem is. The file has to exist somewhere — and unless it was deleted outside of Zotero, it would be on the computer where it was added. That's the device where the debugging has to happen. All other devices are irrelevant. The device with the file almost certainly isn't set up correctly, is getting an error, or, most likely, just hasn't synced since the quota issue was resolved.

    Reset File Sync History is mostly just part of providing a Debug ID if you can’t figure out what’s wrong, but it’s almost never actually necessary.
  • lovajansson
    Hmm, ok. What happened was:

    1. I built a private library
    2. I realised I wanted to share the library with my team, so I created a group library and copied all items from the private library to the group library. I believe I ran out of storage during this process.
    3. Because we couldn't access the PDFs in the group library, I transferred ownership of the group library to a colleague (because she doesn't have any private libraries and so is using less storage) and she purchased Zotero storage.
    4. We both synced our libraries.

    Neither of us can access the PDFs still.

    What do you think we should do - should I try to reset File History for my account?

    Thanks!
  • dstillman
    Sorry, missed this.

    Where did you copy the items from your personal library to the group library? In your local Zotero app or in the web library? Your storage quota wouldn't have any effect if you were just copying items in the desktop app as long as you had the files in your personal library on that computer. But if you were doing this in the web library, and you hit your storage quota, any files after that wouldn't be added to the group library, and you should've gotten an error to that effect.

    The files would have to actually exist in the group library somewhere for file syncing to work at all. If they were never actually in the group, transferring the group to someone with more storage space wouldn't make them available.

    So if you don't have the files in the group library on any computer, you'll need to delete the items in the group library you added previously and drag them again from the computer where you actually have the attached files. As long as the group owner has sufficient space, this will just work.
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