Upgrade StorageStudy workflow across Ubuntu, iPad, Google Drive with Zotero
I’m trying to create an efficient and seamless study workflow to manage and annotate PDFs across my laptop (Ubuntu) and iPad while using Google Drive and Zotero. Here’s my current setup and what I’m looking to achieve:
# Current Setup:
I have a folder named `iPad` in Google Drive, which contains subfolders with all my PDFs. These are synced on:
* Ubuntu: Through the sync functionality of Gnome Online Accounts, I can access the folder and its subfolders locally.
* iPad: Using the PDF Expert app for viewing and annotating PDFs on the synced folder.
I’ve already annotated many PDFs, and I don’t want to lose these annotations.
----
# What I Want to Achieve:
1. Zotero Integration:
* I want to connect all these PDFs to Zotero on my laptop (Ubuntu) and iPad.
* Zotero should serve as a searchable interface for all documents.
2. Annotation Workflow:
* Open PDFs through Zotero in my preferred PDF viewers:
* Ubuntu: Evince
* iPad: PDF Expert
* Make annotations on these PDFs, which should automatically sync back to Google Drive.
3. Preserve Existing Files:
* I don’t want to modify or reorganize the existing file names or folder structure in Google Drive unnecessarily. I don't prefer to have multiple copies of the same document.
# Question:
How can I set up Zotero to access PDFs from the existing Google Drive folder and sync annotations seamlessly without disrupting my current setup or losing existing annotations?
I’d appreciate any detailed advice or suggestions, especially from anyone who has tackled a similar workflow challenge. Thanks in advance!
# Current Setup:
I have a folder named `iPad` in Google Drive, which contains subfolders with all my PDFs. These are synced on:
* Ubuntu: Through the sync functionality of Gnome Online Accounts, I can access the folder and its subfolders locally.
* iPad: Using the PDF Expert app for viewing and annotating PDFs on the synced folder.
I’ve already annotated many PDFs, and I don’t want to lose these annotations.
----
# What I Want to Achieve:
1. Zotero Integration:
* I want to connect all these PDFs to Zotero on my laptop (Ubuntu) and iPad.
* Zotero should serve as a searchable interface for all documents.
2. Annotation Workflow:
* Open PDFs through Zotero in my preferred PDF viewers:
* Ubuntu: Evince
* iPad: PDF Expert
* Make annotations on these PDFs, which should automatically sync back to Google Drive.
3. Preserve Existing Files:
* I don’t want to modify or reorganize the existing file names or folder structure in Google Drive unnecessarily. I don't prefer to have multiple copies of the same document.
# Question:
How can I set up Zotero to access PDFs from the existing Google Drive folder and sync annotations seamlessly without disrupting my current setup or losing existing annotations?
I’d appreciate any detailed advice or suggestions, especially from anyone who has tackled a similar workflow challenge. Thanks in advance!
As you want to keep your PDFs in Google Drive rather than in local Zotero storage (which would be in arbitrarily-named folders under Zotero\storage), you will need to make them *linked* attachment files in Zotero. See limitations of linked files:
https://www.zotero.org/support/attaching_files#linked_files
This plugin can import a OS folder structure into Zotero as matching collections, along with links* to the PDFs there.
https://github.com/retorquere/zotero-folder-import
* verified by the developer here:
https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/469382/#Comment_469382
Maintaining those duplicated OS folder/Zotero collection structures for *new* linked PDFs will be somewhat complicated, but can probably be achieved with Zotmoov. It can add new linked PDFs to a Zotero collection and also a matching external folder. Or you can just drag and drop new linked files into Zotero from your OS folder. But having all linked files in a single folder is much simpler and less likely to break. Zotero collections would then be relied upon for file organization in lieu of OS folders.
https://github.com/wileyyugioh/zotmoov
You can annotate in your preferred PDF viewers. But the annotations would then remain locked if viewed with the Zotero PDF reader. So Zotero will not sync annotations, as they will be embedded in the PDFs not saved in the Zotero database (you can't have annotations both embedded in the PDF and in the Zotero database). If data syncing is turned ON, Zotero will sync just the basic item metadata across devices (data syncing is free and unlimited).
https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/annotations_in_database
But since the PDFs will be synced via Google Drive, their embedded annotations will appear in the PDFs on all synced devices when opened with your preferred external viewer.
To give you the option to open PDFs in your Ubuntu viewer from within Zotero, you can use this plugin:
https://github.com/retorquere/zotero-open-pdf
But you cannot get the Zotero mobile app to open selected PDFs in an external viewer (the devs have recently stated this will not be possible). So you would need to locate those PDFs yourself in Google Drive and open them from there in your preferred PDF Expert. A single linked-files folder structure there would make that easier.
It should be said that many people come to Zotero with existing workflows that they understandably don't want to give up, including complex existing OS folder structures for PDFs, and other PDF viewers. But those people often decide rather quickly that fully embracing the Zotero ecosystem offers more advantages for multi-device use. Or they use a hybrid linked file system managed by Zotmoov (which can now send/get from mobile devices, like Zotfile used to), while using the powerful Zotero PDF reader ... if they can work with the limitations of linked files (they don't work with Groups, the web library, the mobile apps, nor are they officially supported). ;)