sync group attachments rather to webdav than to zotero
Hi,
as the zotero storage service is limited to 100MB (for groups as well??), it would be very nice t be able to sync the group library to another webdav service provider.
Is there any way to get this scenario work?
regards,
Jacob
as the zotero storage service is limited to 100MB (for groups as well??), it would be very nice t be able to sync the group library to another webdav service provider.
Is there any way to get this scenario work?
regards,
Jacob
This discussion has been closed.
I am looking forward to having a WebDAV solution for group attachments, too.
Thanks!
Is this feature under development? What are the challenges that are preventing this functionality? Are there any workarounds I can use to replicate this?
Is this feature planned for a future version of zotero, or will the group libraries always be tied to zotero storage?
it seems that allowing a Webdav use for group libraries is a highly requested feature.
I understand that:
(1) "The Zotero project has never planned to monetize user data or otherwise profit from its users, and so there must be a means of recovering the costs associated with file storage. "
and that
(2) "The Zotero development team and the Corporation for Digital Scholarship have built an entire service architecture devoted to the needs of researchers, including the ability to move files seamlessly between group and personal libraries, and to access these files easily via the Zotero client or at zotero.org"
http://www.zotero.org/support/storage_faq
Since you do not wish to make money with data storage, could you please release publicly the necessary packages so that every institution could install the needed webdav servers for group library file synchronization?
Since anyway it would be quite a technical operation to do, I think most people will still buy you storage space.
Thank you for your comprehension and thanks for the great service you're providing.
Best regards,
Clément Vidal.
congratulations for this good project.
Zotero is a very valuable tool for us, but also want to use our own WebDav for storing the group's attachments (or any other server installed at our University).
Please enable that functionality
I'm feeling very excited about the new features and possibilities. But the introduction of paid services also makes me wary of a possible sneaking commercialization of Zotero, where in the end there might be basic features for everybody and full features only for paying users/customers. I understand that Zotero does not have the means to offer storage for free itself. Others, however, do and it feels awkward to be now gently pushed towards paid services.
For many research groups and universities, the fact that group libraries don't sync over WebDAV is a dealbreaker.
I do hope an institution will come along with some developer time to spare so that they can work on this; since Zotero is open source, there is no reason that this should be a core task of the Zotero developers.
The features that Zotero File Storage provides that WebDAV doesn't (web-based access to files, group syncing with built-in permissions) are due to significant technical challenges with implementing those over third-party WebDAV servers, and any solutions would be awkward at best. That doesn't mean they won't happen, but it does mean they won't happen first. And as Mark notes, they could certainly be implemented by an institution that was willing to contribute developer time.
Wouldn't the best way to encourage contributions be to release the server source?
Also, I don't see why you don't allow for some work-arounds that could be easily implemented: if I were able to see in the web-interface the actual file-name of my attachment as it is stored on the webdav-server, I could access it there, not an elegant solution, but quite doable where right no there is virtually no way of accessing my attachments on a remote computer short of installing Zotero and downloading all of my attachements. I'm afraid I'll lean towards my wary interpretation of where Zotero is headed as long as such work arounds are not implemented.
Charging for services is perfectly legitimate, it's just a step towards changing the nature of a project like Zotero (or at least the way it was possible to experience it in the past).
If that's an acceptable user experience for you, get someone to write a plugin to include the item key in an attached note. Otherwise, convince your institution to contribute significant developer resources to implement a better solution.
Thanks a lot for this very good tool!
However I would be happy if I had a plain-vanilla group type in which all members can add delete etc. all files. I just want to keep my private library and group libraries separate on the same webdav server.
Can I somehow "simulate" this on the current version of zotero?
This is the a big reason why zotero is not used in general for most of our seminars. It is not possible to order students to pay for zotero. But it would be no problem to make a Webdav server available.
Dan, Sean, I very respectfully want to say that I hear you, but I still agree with others on this thread that this should be a high priority feature request for Zotero development team:
Let users choose WebDAV for file attachments in group libraries, just as they are able to choose WebDAV for file attachments in personal library. Alternately, encourage people to set up other instances of Zotero File Storage, which they could then select as the loction for group file storage. A robust, decentralized storage architecture is certainly possible, and also preferable for many different reasons.
Like many, I introduce Zotero to all my students and want them to use it as an excellent research tool and as a FOSS alternative to proprietary citation software. However, Without this functionality, it is difficult to effectively use Zotero in the context of teaching courses. There is no way I can convince my department to pay for Zotero group storage course by course. However, I could easily convince them to set up WebDAV. For that matter, I could easily convince them to set up whatever was needed to allow local file storage for groups (a local instance of the necessary application layer from Zotero File Storage).
The main point is that 1. many users are requesting the ability to set up their own file storage for Groups, 2. lack of this functionality blocks many Zotero use cases in institutional settings, 3. the best implementation, that will lead to widest adoption and additional development, would be agnostic as to whether users want to use Zotero File Storage, set up their own file server, or use a third party.
Implementing this would solve a much-requested feature, increase the rate of Zotero adoption, and also increase the number of Zotero File Storage users.
I might be able to get some development time on this, can you please post links here to the existing relevant tickets on your issue tracker? (related to implementation of group sync via WebDAV)?
Actually, perhaps even more useful would be a link to the code for Zotero File Storage. In my department we could set up a local instance and sync files that way. This would then only require a small UI modification to allow users to point to a different instance of ZFS.
Thanks for all your work!