Create parent item in Web Library?

Kimiora
Is it possible to create a parent item when working in the Web Library? My place of work just cut us off from using the Zotero desktop app because of some security issue. I have a huge library so I'm hoping I can still work from the web...
  • tnajdek
    Unfortunately it's not possible at the moment. Web library is constantly being developed but there are plenty of limitations compared to a desktop version, you can see a list of differences here:

    https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/web_vs_desktop
  • Kimiora
    OK good to know. Thanks.
  • dstillman
    @Kimiora: Could you ask someone to contact us at support@zotero.org about this "security issue"? This is the first we've heard of this, and this is likely some sort of misunderstanding. There's no reason you should need to stop using the desktop app.
  • Kimiora
    Hi @dstillman, thanks for getting back to me. I work for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. I had been using the desktop app for about 7 months (since I started the position) and suddenly I couldn't open it anymore. When I requested IT assistance, this is what I got:

    Zotero has been blocked for almost two years. (Cyberark) 7Zip has been blocked since 2021 per the direction of the governor. The file replication in Zotero introduced malware in to CDFW. Since that incident, the software has been blocked.

    I don't know if Cyberark or 7Zip have anything to do with Zotero, but this does not sound like something I could talk someone out of. But I would love to...so if you have any ideas let me know!
  • dstillman
    You should really see if they'll contact us. It's very likely there's some sort of confusion here, or they're not aware of various options they have short of blocking Zotero completely.
    7Zip has been blocked since 2021 per the direction of the governor.
    7-Zip is a popular open-source file archiver that's been around since 1999. Like many programs, we use it as part of our Windows installer. I don't know why they would be blocking that, but we also provide a regular ZIP of the program files that can be extracted to a folder — it just won't register Zotero as the handler for various files. The ZIP can be downloaded by appending "-zip" to the platform string in our Windows download URLs.
    The file replication in Zotero introduced malware in to CDFW. Since that incident, the software has been blocked.
    It's not clear if they think that Zotero actually created malware or if they understand that Zotero file syncing works similarly to any other file-syncing program (e.g., Dropbox). Even if they do understand that, it's very likely that any "malware" they saw was just some bad JavaScript in a webpage snapshot from some webpage someone saved, which would be fairly innocuous (e.g., a crypto miner that would run while the snapshot was being viewed). Zotero has stripped JavaScript from webpage snapshots for several years, so this wouldn't be an issue with current snapshots.

    In any case, there are a lot of ways files could get onto a system, and I would think they would be scanning local files either way, so it seems rather bizarre to block a tool like Zotero, which can of course also be used entirely locally without syncing.
    I don't know if Cyberark or 7Zip have anything to do with Zotero
    CyberArk is apparently a security firm — I guess a vendor of theirs? That wouldn't have anything to do with us.
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