PDF naming

I recently updated to Zotero 7.0.10 (64 bit) running under Linux Mint.

Prior to installing version 7, when I created a PDF attachment, the attachment would likely have a weird or unwanted name. By right clicking, and selecting "Rename file from parent metadata", the file name (in the storage location) would be altered, and so do would the displayed name of the attachment. An example is visible in the attached screen shot for the item "The scoring of individual performance". The PDF name is seen to have been changed to "Thurstone - 1926 - The scoring of individual performance.pdf"

After installing Zotero 7, the behavior appears to have changed, as shown in the screen shot with the item "A necessary and sufficient condition for quantization error". When I right clicked the PDF, and selected "Rename file from parent metadata", the file name in the storage location was indeed changed ... but the display within Zotero continues simply to show "PDF".

Is the new behavior the intended behavior or a bug?

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u1990029/zvam7zk5e8mss8c72e0a.png
  • I was just about to report this changed behavior as a bug, because it appears to be unproductive. From the archival point of view, it is a bad idea to leave an attachment nameless in the Zotero library "Since the parent item row in the items list already displays that metadata" (https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/attachment_title_vs_filename), because the parent item's metadata may change(!) and (since currently Zotero does not automatically update the name of the actual pdf file when its corresponding parent item is changed) the parent item and pdf file name would no longer match. So in order to be sure that the pdf filename and the parent item name match we would have to either (1) open up the pdf's folder in our Zotero folder or (2) click on the attachment, scroll down beneath the pdf preview, and check the filename field -- whereas before in Z6 we could just look at the pdf attachment's name prominently displayed right there in our Zotero library right under the parent item!

    It was so useful to easily see a long list of entries with pdfs clearly displaying a name that did not match their respective parent items, then highlight all the pdfs, and click rename! Now we'd have to verify whether the names match or not by examining the pdfs one by one, which is not progress because it makes renaming at scale too tedious.

    Might the Z6 functionality be reinstated at least as an option?

  • edited 23 days ago
    @innovation1 . You might like to look here (https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/116643/rename-file-bug ) at the Javascript I have posted to emulate, to some degree, the previously liked-by-me-and-you but actually unintended, behaviour.

    The javascript was put together with some haste, so I'm sure it could be improved.
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