I'm late to the game on this one, but I'm just starting two new collaborative projects where we want to share PDFs via Zotero. However, I've already got the library started on my own computer (standalone Zotero) and linked the PDFs for several files. The PDFs don't appear to have synced (it's really just a few files so it's under the minimum storage space still). Does this mean that moving forward I can't add the PDFs to standalone but rather must login to the Zotero website and add in the browser? Or what am I missing here?
Nothing to do with the website: In order to use share files in groups, you need to use stored (rather than linked) files -- i.e. the defaul, you need to have file storage enabled for the group (not allowed in public/open, otherwise the default), and you need to use Zotero file storage (not webDAV). If you're doing that, you can just drag items including their attachment from a personal library to a (closed membership) group in either local Zotero or on the website. If you're not, it won't work in either place.
Hmmm. I must still be missing something. I have added the files as stored files (not just links) on my standalone copy of Zotero. In other words: I manually added them using the link icon on each individual entry. Is this what you mean? Or am I doing something wrong here?
When it syncs, the PDF file is greyed out when I check on the website/browser - meaning that I can't access the PDF file from the browser version. (One of my colleagues doesn't yet use a standalone copy of Zotero so this is how they'll be accessing the PDFs.) The group is private, file sharing and editing are enabled for all group members, and the Zotero sync settings are all checked off (using Zotero not webDav).
Ok, maybe this is the issue, but please do let me know - how does the storage limit work exactly when one has multiple group projects? I noticed that I'm still part of another group project from a few years ago in which PDFs were uploaded. I'm not really using this anymore. Do I need to leave that group in order for PDFs in the new group to be uploaded if I haven't bought sufficient storage space?
No need to guess - you can check your storage quota here: https://www.zotero.org/settings/storage (you should also get a file sync error if this is an issue)
Upgrade Storage
When it syncs, the PDF file is greyed out when I check on the website/browser - meaning that I can't access the PDF file from the browser version. (One of my colleagues doesn't yet use a standalone copy of Zotero so this is how they'll be accessing the PDFs.) The group is private, file sharing and editing are enabled for all group members, and the Zotero sync settings are all checked off (using Zotero not webDav).
Have I missed a step?