Upgrade StorageTripple copied articles & attached files not found
I got a new computer, backed up the Zotero database on my old computer, and transferred everything to Zotero on my new computer. However, two major issues occurred that I do not know how to fix.
First, my new Zotero library contains three (sometimes four) copies of every article. I have 2000+ articles in my library, so individually sorting this out with the "Duplicate Items" feature would take forever. Is there a better way to fix this or should I just delete everything and start over?
Second, for most of my articles, when I click to open them in Zotero, I receive an error message that "The attached file could not be found at the following path.....". I have to "Locate" every individual file, which the PDF is stored on my computer, and it seems like it is in the file path that Zotero shows, but Zotero cannot find it automatically? Additionally, for a small subset of articles, if I click on the drop-down menu for an article and click on the PDF icon, then it opens the PDF with no problem (but I do see a "snapshot" item, that perhaps Zotero is preferentially opening first?).
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Even if I must delete everything and redownload Zotero, I want to ensure I do that correctly.
Thank you!
First, my new Zotero library contains three (sometimes four) copies of every article. I have 2000+ articles in my library, so individually sorting this out with the "Duplicate Items" feature would take forever. Is there a better way to fix this or should I just delete everything and start over?
Second, for most of my articles, when I click to open them in Zotero, I receive an error message that "The attached file could not be found at the following path.....". I have to "Locate" every individual file, which the PDF is stored on my computer, and it seems like it is in the file path that Zotero shows, but Zotero cannot find it automatically? Additionally, for a small subset of articles, if I click on the drop-down menu for an article and click on the PDF icon, then it opens the PDF with no problem (but I do see a "snapshot" item, that perhaps Zotero is preferentially opening first?).
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Even if I must delete everything and redownload Zotero, I want to ensure I do that correctly.
Thank you!
See:
https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/transferring_a_library
So, I exported my Zotero library and copied all the PDF files. I then imported the library to Zotero on my new computer and attempted to save all the PFD files in the Zotero folder on my new computer. But I probably did not do this correctly.
Are there any remedies for this?
Were all your PDF attachment files in the standard local storage (under Zotero\storage) ? Or were you using linked PDFs ?
So, I had some of my PDF attachments in the standard local storage, while others were linked PDFs (if I understand correctly) to PDS saved in other folders on my computer (I often save article PDFs in a project folder for each manuscript I work on). This is still the case now.
The locations of those linked PDFs are baked into the Zotero database. So in order for those PDFs to be located by Zotero when you try to open them on the new computer, you need to copy them to the exact same path as they were at on the old computer. That's why you're getting the error "The attached file could not be found at the following path....." - that PDF is not where Zotero thinks it is. Once you place those linked files at the same path, Zotero should find them.
There is one exception to those linked file paths needing to be identical on the new computer - a Linked Attachment Base Directory (LABD) setting allows the single parent path to linked folders/files to differ between computers (eg D:\ on one computer and E:\ on another). But if you don't need that, don't use it - just copy linked PDFs to identical paths if you can. If however you *already* had a LABD setting on your old computer, you need one on your new computer too (even if the parent linked folder paths are not different between computers). The LABD only effects where Zotero *looks* for linked PDFs . It has no effect on where linked PDFs get stored.
https://www.zotero.org/support/preferences/advanced
You also have to copy across the Zotero data folder as described in Option B at the earlier link ( https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/transferring_a_library ).