Older Articles Give Pop-Up Saying "File Not Found"

Clund17
I'm a PhD student and I'm currently reviewing articles from past semesters to review for my comprehensive exam. Older articles are not opening, and instead a pop-up saying "File Not Found" pops up. I've clicked on the "More Information" button and have read about the Linked Attachment Base Directory, but none of this makes sense to me. I did have to purchase more storage a year or so ago; could this be related?

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u10022680/r0e4chy0ha8289jrbvz3.png
  • tim820
    edited 12 days ago
    The path displayed in the message is where that PDF was stored when it was originally added as a *linked* file, on the computer where that happened. Are you still using the same computer ? Do you still have that PDF (somewhere else ?) on your current computer ? And if so what is its current path ?

    Re your mention of purchased Zotero storage, that space is only for syncing files stored in local Zotero storage (under Zotero\storage) to Zotero servers. As a linked file stored elsewhere on your computer (under Users/Camille/Downloads), the above missing file was not in local Zotero storage ... and so was unaffected by your purchased Zotero online storage.
    https://www.zotero.org/support/attaching_files#stored_files_and_linked_files
  • Clund17
    Hello,

    Thank you for your response. I got a new computer a few months ago after my old one went kaput. However, I still have access to a lot of documents that I added to Zotero through that computer, at least I think I do. If this is the issue, do you know what I can do about it? I thought that I could still access articles on Zotero even if they were deleted from the computer where they were originally downloaded and added.

    Thanks for your help,
    Camille
  • tim820
    Zotero only syncs attachment files that are in its local storage (under Zotero\storage). And then only if you have file syncing turned ON and you are under your online file storage quota (the extra storage that you paid for). Zotero does not sync attachments that you added as *linked* files - that are elsewhere on that computer. That's your responsibility. If you are going to save any of your attachment files as linked files, you do need to fully understand the ramifications of doing that.
    https://www.zotero.org/support/attaching_files#stored_files_and_linked_files

    So the original paths to any attachments you originally saved as linked files are what is in your Zotero database. You would need to check when you get an error message why that file is not at that particular location on your new computer. If all the missing linked files were in the Downloads folder shown in the error message above, it may be just a case of copying them from the old computer. Then if you want Zotero to sync them from now on, you could convert them to locally stored files (using Tools\Manage Attachments\Convert Linked Files to Stored Files, on selected items). If you don't have that computer anymore, or a backup, you would need to download those attachments again (eg via the Zotero Web Connector from article web pages).

    The Linked Attachments Base Directory only becomes relevant if the linked attachment files are actually on your new computer but at a different path to the old one. It only affects where Zotero *looks* for linked attachment files. It has no effect on where they get stored, or their syncing (since linked files are not synced by Zotero).
    https://www.zotero.org/support/preferences/advanced#files_and_folders
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