- What you see displayed in the center pane of your library is the Attachment Title, which is consistent with the column where it is displayed, which is "Title". - What you see in the Item Pane on the right-hand side of your library when selecting an attachment file is: * First line: Attachment Title * Then below: "Filename:" Filename - You can verify that the function "Rename File from parent metadata" is changing the name of the file on your computer, by a right-click on the attachment file → "Show File".
Thanks! Is there any way I can change the "Attachment Title"? I know it is only "cosmetic" but it would be great to have a consistent format for the Attachment Title.
With the redesign of Zotero 7 beta, most of the justifications given here for the change no longer seem applicable. To wit:
1. One no longer sees "Attachment Title" in the center pane of one's library -- one sees "Title." One logically expects to see the name of the attachment, just as one expects to see the actual title of the reference, not "Title." 2. When selecting an attachment file, what one sees in the Item Pane on the right hand side of the library is "Attachment Info" and then, below the thumbnail, the filename." 3. The other problem is that until now, even Zotero has displayed the actual name of *all* of my attachments. Just seeing "Full Text PDF" is confusing.
None of the relevant GUI elements changed between Z6 an Z7. The relevant column in the middle panel has always been "Title" and the item pane has always displayed both filename and attachment title.
See the linked discussions -- an option to display the attachment filename (instead of the attachment title) in the middle panel is planned.
@Telemachos: Once you manually rename the attachment title in the righthand pane, Zotero is no longer restricted to showing generic names such as "Full Text PDF".
I am also confused by this distinction. Wouldnt it help if zotero would encourage to solve the issue of meaningful attachment titles through tags? It is possible to tag attachments with something like "preprint" or "published version". The only difficulty is that zotero cannot show the relevant tags in the middle column directly against the different items. An ideal solution might be if there could be something like a prefix to tags such as "attachment type" which would be shown in the middle column. This way it would be possible to simply tag attachments with something like: "Attachment type: preprint". This would also solve the issue that many of the attachment titles are not really helpful, or that users might make typos when they add identifiers like "preprint" to attachment titles. With tags users could solve the latter problem easily solved through the "rename tag" functionality.
It is possible to tag attachments with something like "preprint" or "published version".
@migugg I use the attachment titles exactly the way you are describing — I use attachment titles as tags, ie. if I have both the preprint document and published version, I'll title the preprint "Preprint" and the published version "Full Text PDF". And I'll let both filenames be assigned automatically (usually they end up with identical file names, which doesn't bother me).
For the last couple days/last couple minor beta updates, I've noticed a change in the way Rename File from Parent Metadata works. In previous versions, it would automatically change both the filename and title, assuming the user had not manually entered any changes to the text of the attachment title. Now it seems that even if the user hasn't manually edited the attachment title, Rename File from Parent Metadata only changes the filename; it no longer makes changes to the attachment title under any circumstances, as far as I can tell.
For what its worth, I was a fan of the previous behavior. It felt like a intuitive, flexible, and reliable way of handling the different situations quickly.
Now it seems that even if the user hasn't manually edited the attachment title, Rename File from Parent Metadata only changes the filename; it no longer makes changes to the attachment title under any circumstances, as far as I can tell.
Can we revert back to how it used to work before? It's annoying that when I click on an attachment within Zotero, its name remains as " main" or "PDF".
https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/439553/#Comment_439553
In Zotero 6, the function "Rename File from Parent Metadata" was changing both the
Filename
and theAttachment Title
, which was confusing.The
Attachment Title
is different from theFilename
:https://www.zotero.org/support/file_renaming#attachment_title_vs_filename
- What you see displayed in the center pane of your library is the
Attachment Title
, which is consistent with the column where it is displayed, which is "Title".- What you see in the Item Pane on the right-hand side of your library when selecting an attachment file is:
* First line:
Attachment Title
* Then below: "Filename:"
Filename
- You can verify that the function "Rename File from parent metadata" is changing the name of the file on your computer, by a right-click on the attachment file → "Show File".
There will probably be more changes coming to help clarify the confusion:
https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/440046#Comment_440046
https://github.com/zotero/zotero/issues/3245
https://github.com/zotero/zotero/issues/2900
1. One no longer sees "Attachment Title" in the center pane of one's library -- one sees "Title." One logically expects to see the name of the attachment, just as one expects to see the actual title of the reference, not "Title."
2. When selecting an attachment file, what one sees in the Item Pane on the right hand side of the library is "Attachment Info" and then, below the thumbnail, the filename."
3. The other problem is that until now, even Zotero has displayed the actual name of *all* of my attachments. Just seeing "Full Text PDF" is confusing.
Please revert to the previous behavior!
See the linked discussions -- an option to display the attachment filename (instead of the attachment title) in the middle panel is planned.
@Telemachos: Once you manually rename the attachment title in the righthand pane, Zotero is no longer restricted to showing generic names such as "Full Text PDF".
This would also solve the issue that many of the attachment titles are not really helpful, or that users might make typos when they add identifiers like "preprint" to attachment titles. With tags users could solve the latter problem easily solved through the "rename tag" functionality.
Rename File from Parent Metadata
works. In previous versions, it would automatically change both the filename and title, assuming the user had not manually entered any changes to the text of the attachment title. Now it seems that even if the user hasn't manually edited the attachment title,Rename File from Parent Metadata
only changes the filename; it no longer makes changes to the attachment title under any circumstances, as far as I can tell.As described in this comment last year https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/439553/#Comment_439553, I understood the old behavior as deliberate. Is the recent change a bug, or has its function been deliberately altered?
For what its worth, I was a fan of the previous behavior. It felt like a intuitive, flexible, and reliable way of handling the different situations quickly.
https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/467717/#Comment_467717
https://www.zotero.org/support/file_renaming#attachment_title_vs_filename