General questions

marikiru
Hello!

I have several questions:

1. How many groups can I create under one account? Are there any limitations?
2. Is it correct that I pay $120 for unlimited storage for my account, not for each group?
3. Is the storage truly unlimited for the entire usage period (one year)?
4. Is there a limit on the size of uploaded files (for example, each file up to 20 MB or something similar)?

Thank you in advance!

Best regards,
Maria
  • adamsmith
    edited July 30, 2024
    1. No limit and I know people have dozens of groups, but if you're planning to do something truly unusual (like: 100s of groups) you might hit some sort of implicit limit.
    2. Correct
    3. Yes, within the ToS, which mainly rule out illegal activity: https://www.zotero.org/support/terms/terms_of_service
    4. There's a 5GB file size limit, which might in effect be a little lower depending on how Zotero interacts with AWS storage, but you should be able to get pretty close to 5GB/file. https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/336317/#Comment_336317 (edit: though Zotero doesn't optimize for large file upload as far as I know, so if you're routinely planning on syncing >1GB individual files, it might not have great performance, depending on your internet connection.)
  • b_wolf
    How do I use a paid storage exclusively for a group library that I run? I have a large personal library but only want to use the zotero paid storage for the group library project.

    Can I select which folders/groups to synch/share via Zotero storage? I don't want to start syncing and have the storage fill up before I add the files to the group library.
  • adamsmith
    You can uncheck "Sync attachments files in My Library using"...
    and check it for group libraries.
    As long as group libraries have files enabled (which they don't have to), you cannot select individual group libraries to sync.
  • b_wolf
    if I am in other group libraries, how would the sync attachments work if I check for group libraries - will I be able to select only the specific group I'm trying to manage? Or will it start syncing other group libraries that I'm in?
  • adamsmith
    It will sync files for all group libraries (but as long as you're not the owner, they don't count against your quota)
  • b_wolf
    great! thank you. To summarize:
    1. I can use the paid storage for my group libraries only (if change the sync settings)
    2. Any group libraries that I own will sync (and count towards my storage space)

    Given the following recommendation in the docs:
    https://www.zotero.org/support/groups
    "If this is a group for a team, lab, or organization, we recommend setting up a separate account for the team to function as the owner of the group, with at least two people knowing the login information. This way, you will not be locked out of the group if the group owner were to leave the team or organization."

    Should I just set up another Zotero account and use that login to manage the specific project? It's not ideal as I have a lot of the inital documents in my personal Zotero that I'd need to share, but perhaps is better in the long run for access, simplicity of syncing, storage issues?
  • DWL-SDCA
    You can establish a group under your own unlimited Zotero account. You are the owner of that group and any files are associated to your Zotero account.

    Your group can have more than one owner in that each owner-person should know login information and have full editing privileges. If something should happen to an owner the other person(s) with login and editing rights can take over the group.

    Caveat: I don't know how this works with an institutional (as opposed to individual) Zotero account.
  • adamsmith
    You don't need, and shouldn't use, a separate account just because you're working on a group project.

    The separate accounts to manage a group come in when the group is for, or represents an institution: say you're running a small biotech company and want your company's research literature to live in a Zotero group: that'd be the type of scenario where you create a new account with the company name, give that account unlimited storage and give the login to 2-3 trusted people in the company for stability.

    The company account's only function is to own groups: it should not have a personal library and (in a typical set up) no one should actually use that account in Zotero desktop/sync with it.

    (None of this is any different with institutional or lab subscriptions, which just mean that everyone covered by a subscription has an account with unlimited storage; it doesn't change anything else)
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