Zotero 7 and attachment titles

wayneholmes
Zotero 7 is great. Many thanks for all your amazing work. Much appreciated.

I have a small problem. In Zotero 7.0.1, when I attach a PDF to a journal item and choose 'Rename File from Parent Metadata', in the main Zotero pane/window the title of that PDF remains as 'PDF'. The actual file stored in Finder is correctly named from the parent metadata.

Items that have previously been renamed from parent metadata show that correct name in the main Zotero pane/window. Only new PDFs appear to appear as 'PDF'.

I'd appreciate any support/suggestions about how I might change this back to how I think it used to function (to show the full PDF name in the main pane/window, rather than just 'PDF').

Many thanks and best wishes,

Wayne
  • dstillman
    https://www.zotero.org/support/file_renaming#attachment_title_vs_filename
  • wayneholmes
    Wow. Dan your responsiveness is amazing. Thank you so much.

    I now understand the change. Thank you. Although..., sorry, I prefer the previous approach.

    I'd use it when I have several PDFs attached to one item (e.g. 'First draft', 'Review', 'Resubmission' etc. - that's just one example).

    For me, it is a little strange having the first attachment show as 'PDF' and subsequent ones by their filename.

    If I was pushy... I'd request that we have the choice whether to show 'title' or 'filename'. But I'm not. ;-)

    Thank you again to you and your colleagues for your amazing work.

    Best,

    Wayne
  • dstillman
    I'd use it when I have several PDFs attached to one item (e.g. 'First draft', 'Review', 'Resubmission' etc. - that's just one example).
    Well, you can still do that, of course — the title is always editable from the right-hand pane. But the vast majority of the time, people are just saving items with PDFs from the web or by dragging in a single file and having it be recognized, and in that case the simple titles keep the items pane clean and don't interfere with searches.

    Also, unless you disabled automatic renaming, the first PDF you dragged to an item already had its filename automatically changed based on the parent metadata, so a filename like "First draft" that you set outside of Zotero would've been overwritten and wouldn't have appeared in the title anyway. In Zotero 7, you can actually create a custom filename format that conditionally incorporates the attachment title in the filename (e.g., if it doesn't include "PDF"), and then if you set the attachment title to something like "First draft", that would automatically be incorporated into the filename. (We'll be adding continuous renaming of files as metadata is changed in an upcoming version, which will make that even smoother.)
  • wayneholmes
    Thanks Dan,

    I think I will find 'don't interfere with searches' particularly useful.

    FYI To change the title of the PDF, I was changing the item title name in Zotero (e.g., adding 'first draft'), then renaming the attachment title from parent metadata, then renaming the item back (removing 'first draft'). Made sense to me! ;-)

    Best wishes, and thanks again.

    Wayne
    PS I would love a switch in settings to 'use attachment filename as attachment title'. But I'm sure you have much more important things to focus on.
  • tallish_paul
    I'd also really like a switch to keep the attachment filename the same as the attachment title.
  • mpascale
    I agree with these comments that the old display was better.
    A switch in settings would be great, that or it could easily display both, there's plenty of space after the word "PDF" in the line all by itself.....

    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u6843527/zpgsqdf2ufdk3jh7vzrt.png
    e.g. the list under a parent item.. 
    >2015     Consumption of caffeine mitigates cancer risk      Thompson et al.     Journal Article     Journal of Miscellanea
        - ScienceDirect PDF   Thompson 2015 Consumption of caffeine .pdf
        - Submitted Version   thompson_manuscript.pdf
  • rdiaz02
    edited 27 days ago
    If you really want to force a rename of the Title from the Filename, without having to type or copy/paste into the "Title" field, it is possible to do this with Actions and Tags for Zotero (https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-actions-tags) and either of these scripts: https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-actions-tags/discussions/381 or https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-actions-tags/discussions/380 ; the first leaves ".pdf" in the Title and just sets Title to Filename; the second changes the Filename(s) using the renaming rules, and then makes Title = Filename but removes the file extension, such as "pdf", from the Title).
  • wayneholmes
    Many thanks, @rdiaz02

    When you have a moment, please would you point me to some instructions on how I implement such a script in zotero. I simply have no idea.

    Best wishes,

    Wayne
  • tim820
    edited 27 days ago
    @wayneholmes install the plugin and then see "Create your own actions" under Quick Start ...
    https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-actions-tags?tab=readme-ov-file#-quick-start

    Instead of the "copy item link" code used in the example there, use the code from either of the scripts linked above by @rdiaz02 (380 or 381).

    Edit: looks like we posted responses at the same time. ;)
  • rdiaz02
    edited 27 days ago
    @wayneholmes : First, a caveat: there are good reasons for the default behavior of Zotero, and @dstillman has explained them in this and several other threads (e.g., https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/467717/#Comment_467717). I suggest you read these carefully to make sure when/if you want to force these renames.

    Now, if you want to go ahead, these are the steps:

    1. Install Actions and Tags for Zotero from https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-actions-tags (there was a typo in my previous post, now fixed).

    2. Make sure you read the quick start instructions https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-actions-tags#-quick-start paying particular attention to https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-actions-tags#create-your-own-actions . This is crucial, to know what you are supposed to do in the instructions that follow.

    3. Go to https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-actions-tags/discussions/381 and/or https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-actions-tags/discussions/380 and install either one or both of these scripts.

    If you've done step 2., you will see that you need to create a new action (or actions, if you install both scripts). The general steps are all in https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-actions-tags#create-your-own-actions. Briefly, you go to "Edit", then "Settings"; you will see the "Actions & Tags" tab, and then click on "+". You give the new action a name under "Name", give it a Menu Label under "Menu label", set the "Event" to none and the "Operation" to "script", and then copy the code (what is shown as "Data" in the github links for the scripts) under "Data".

    @tim820: yes! ;-)
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