Upgrade StorageZotero on new computer is unable to locate linked files
Hi. I recently shifted data to a new computer. I don't upload PDFs online, and like to link files on my computer to the Zotero bibliographies.
On my new computer, Zotero Standalone worked normally. Of course, it would not actually open any of the files since they are not stored on the new machine.
Now, I'm planning a complete shift to the new computer. I've gone ahead and copied the entire Zotero folder from my old computer and put in the relevant place on my new computer.
But the path still seems to be incorrect. When I try to open linked files, I just get a message "file not found" message. It says "The attached file could not be found at the following path."
How can I setup Zotero on my new computer so it reads relevant linked files from my new (and not old) computer?
Thanks!
On my new computer, Zotero Standalone worked normally. Of course, it would not actually open any of the files since they are not stored on the new machine.
Now, I'm planning a complete shift to the new computer. I've gone ahead and copied the entire Zotero folder from my old computer and put in the relevant place on my new computer.
But the path still seems to be incorrect. When I try to open linked files, I just get a message "file not found" message. It says "The attached file could not be found at the following path."
How can I setup Zotero on my new computer so it reads relevant linked files from my new (and not old) computer?
Thanks!
/Users/HomeFolder/Documents/Downloaded Files/F2/F3/F.pdf
(I am using HomeFolder, F2/3, and F as examples).
I went back and checked and the only difference between this and the old computer is in the name of HomeFolder.
In the old computer, it's named MyHomeFolder.
I am not sure how to do this. Perhaps this is what's causing the issue?
It'd be great if I could easily reconfigure this and it solves the problem. Otherwise, it's going to take me ages to open each entry and relink the file stored on my computer :(
https://www.zotero.org/support/preferences/advanced#linked_attachment_base_directory
It looks like your PDFs are stored several folder levels deeper than what would be the LABD on each computer (I am assuming that all your PDFs are not under ../F2/F3). Zotero is fine with that too. The LABD on the new computer should be:
Users/HomeFolder/Documents/Downloaded Files
(with root drive, back or forward slashes dependent on whether it's Windows, Mac, etc).
If you are still using the old computer (otherwise you can forget about it*), you would set the LABD on it to:
Users/MyHomeFolder/Documents/Downloaded Files
*see 'Automatic Linked-File Relinking' at the above link.
I have now changed the base directory as you recommended.
Now when I click on any file, it gives me a message saying the file in not at the location.
It does, however, tell me that it has found "a file with the same name" within the "linked attachment base directory."
I now have the option of clicking Link.
The thing is I am kind of back to square one because I will still need to relink each and every entry in Zotero to the new location. That's going to be quite taxing.
Any suggestions on how I can make this process automatic for all the Zotero entries in one go?
Thanks!
I assume you hadn't tried anything else earlier to solve the problem, that might now be throwing things off ... for example moving a linked PDF file (via your operating system) to another location ?
As I indicated above, the only change is in the name of the Home folder.
To answer you questions above:
(1) The only difference in the error message location has to do with a different name for the Home folder.
It is looking for those linked files in the older folder. That folder exists only on my old computer.
On the new computer it has a different name, so Zotero sees that as an issue and is unable to retrieve the file. Of course, the rest of the folder structure is the same in both computers.
(2) I see from Zotero settings on my old computer that the base directory on the LABD is empty and a location is yet to be chosen.
This was the same on my new computer. Except, after your earlier response I went ahead and put in the location manually.
Please let me know if you have other questions. Thanks!
*Are you sure the message you mentioned about re-linking a single file for you was not offering to re-do *all* the links (point them to the LABD) ? Under Automatic Linked-File Relinking here it says that you should have got that message when you first tried to open a linked file on the new computer after setting the LABD ...
https://www.zotero.org/support/preferences/advanced#linked_attachment_base_directory
File Located Automatically
The file could not be found at the specified location, but a file with the same name was found within your Linked Attachment Base Directory:
Old Location: /Users/JohnWayne/Documents/Downloaded Files/SubFolder/Filename.pdf
New Location: /Users/Johnhome/Documents/Downloaded Files/SubFolder/Filename.pdf
Zotero can automatically relink this attachment.
As far as I can tell, it is asking me to relink only the particular file I am trying to open, and not the entire directory.
It looks like I'll just have to do this one by one :(
It has now worked and all looks good.
It was a bit clumsy in the beginning, in that it first failed to relink, and then relinked only a few files.
Eventually, I realised that it's relinking files in batches. So, I did have to go through several clicks but it would then detect an entire batch of associated files and relink them.
It's saved the major part of that labour. Thanks!