Renaming files from parent meta data is not updating the displayed file name in Zotero

tare2
When renaming stored files from parent metadata, the actual file in the Zotero directory tree gets renamed correctly, but the displayed file name in the Zotero application does not change. This is very annoying as you cannot see if the file has been renamed. Please fix this because it is highly irritating.
Basically: Whenever you perform an automatic file name rename, copy the file name into the attachments title field. This is how the previous Zotero version worked. Or at least make an actionable button or command to do this.
  • adamsmith
    https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/attachment_title_vs_filename
  • tare2
    Well, I disagree. Seeing a Title attribute such as "PDF" or "Full Text" in the Title field is not very meaningful and semantically empty. I sometimes attach more than one PDF of some kind to an item, such as a review article on the item, a response, etc., all of which might - under your new way of doing this - end up looking like "PDF" or "Full Text" or whatever non-descript value that Title field becomes by default now. I would have several "PDF" files in the list showing, and would not know which is what.

    The old system at least populated that Title field with something visible in the list that had meaning. It showed what the actual file name looked like automatically.
    I would suggest that you add that functionality back into the "Rename File from Parent Metadata" action.
  • dstillman
    I sometimes attach more than one PDF of some kind to an item, such as a review article on the item, a response, etc., all of which might - under your new way of doing this - end up looking like "PDF" or "Full Text" or whatever non-descript value that Title field becomes by default now.
    No, that's not the case. From the page:

    "Subsequent files added to an item from the filesystem will still get titles named after the filename (without the file extension), since those are likely to be supplementary files and the filename may be informative."
    The old system at least populated that Title field with something visible in the list that had meaning. It showed what the actual file name looked like automatically.
    No, it did not. Zotero has always used simple attachment titles by default. Read the page to better understand what actually changed.
  • tare2
    Let me clarify: In the past, the user action "Rename File from Parent Metadata" changed the file AND populated the Title field in the list with the file name.
    My ask is: Bring back that functionality.
    I always did that so that the Title in the list was identical to the file name, which as descriptive of the file.
  • dstillman
    edited 2 days ago
    Right, and as explained, that was a bug that caused people to pointlessly run Rename File from Parent Metadata on every new item they added to their library:
    Prior to Zotero 7, if you manually ran Rename File from Parent Metadata, the attachment title was changed to match the new filename. This was a bug that led many people to believe that files weren't being automatically renamed and that it was necessary to run Rename File from Parent Metadata on every new attachment. In Zotero 7, the title is no longer changed, and titles remain as “PDF”, “ScienceDirect Full Text PDF”, or whatever they were set to originally. Files are still renamed as always, as you can see if you click on the attachment item and look in the item pane.
    And the title was not "descriptive of the file" — it was just repeating the metadata that you already have in the parent item row above.

    We're planning to add an option to just show filenames in the items list for people who really prefer that, but we encourage people to try just using the simpler titles that Zotero has always saved by default. And in any case, you certainly shouldn't have to manually run a command on every new file — that's an absurd waste of time.
  • tare2
    Rethink what the "simpler titles" actually mean? What is the semantic content of "PDF" or "Full Text"? Pretty much none.
    If you only have one PDF attached to an item, then this might work. But if you, as I often do, attach more than one file to one item, then this becomes meaningless.
    What you automatically generate for the Title field matters. At the moment, the Title field is used by you as per your automatic, as more like a category descriptor of the item: Full Text, or PDF.
    But, as I said, if you have multiple such files on your list, then this is meaning less.
  • dstillman
    edited 2 days ago
    It's the primary PDF for the item — its full-text representation. The vast majority of the time, "PDF"/"Full Text"/etc. is sufficient to describe the attachment, and just repeating the metadata that's in the row above is just unnecessary noise that doesn't provide any additional useful info.
    But, as I said, if you have multiple such files on your list, then this is meaning less.
    I addressed this above. If you have additional attachments, they'll get titles based on the filename. They do not get "PDF" titles like you claimed.
  • adamsmith
    Do you actually have a single item with multiple attachments titled "PDF"? You keep saying that but as dstillman notes, that's not how this is supposed to work so it's well possible something is going wrong.
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