[Android] Downloading PDF files (perhaps a Boox issue?)

burgarth · January 27, 2024

I try to manually load PDF files and am encountering problems. In this case : D1179254922 the app simply crashed when I clicked download. In this case D1623494926 in all cases when I click on an item, the download icon gets stuck and the file does not open; however, after changing to a different collection view and back the item is actually showing as downloaded, and then clicking on the icon will open it correctly. Perhaps this is an effect specific to epaper devices (this is a boox one) and related to not enforcing a screen refresh? But I would expect that after a download the PDF would open and this should refresh the screen, even on epaper.

dstillman · January 31, 2024

OK, please try the latest build (46).

burgarth · January 31, 2024

Great, that is fixed, many thanks!!!! The related bug https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/111351/android-attachment-type-bug-in-list-view remains.

burgarth · February 2, 2024

The new version also fixed that last issue, many thanks.

burgarth · March 3, 2024

I seem to still or again having issues with downloads. Latest example is D142401247 which I cannot get to download

burgarth · March 3, 2024

Ah now it did. But it took ages, and on iOS I could get it in a few seconds on the same network

dstillman · September 3, 2024

(Please always stick to your existing thread for the same issue. We can't help you in a general thread with hundreds of people following it.)

If you're still seeing this, we'd want another Debug ID for reproducing it.

burgarth · September 3, 2024

Fair point. I will try, but the un-reproducibility of this problem makes it hard for me to create a Debug ID. I just tried with 20+ downloads and they all went find :)

Is there a chance to get the download progress bar running on e-ink devices? Currently, the downloading item shows as 0% and then jumps to the downloaded file when ready, without an intermediate stage. But I understand if you say that e-ink is not your priority at the moment.

dstillman · September 3, 2024

I'm not sure if that's even an e-ink issue, but we'll check. We bought a Boox to test with.

burgarth · 2025-11-23T21:38:12+00:00

Have you made progress on this? I still have the issue, this video is on the Onyx Boox 4C https://photos.app.goo.gl/LmC8Ni7Fp3qJrQeF7 (Funnily the file opened just when I stopped the video...). I am not sure what causes it, do others have similar issues?

burgarth · 2025-11-27T14:05:31+00:00

[Merged back into this thread — D.S.]

I've posted this before https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/111205/android-downloading-pdf-files-perhaps-a-boox-issue but I think I didn't explain well enough that this is not just an issue of animations showing as described in the related https://github.com/zotero/zotero-android/issues/155 but it's making the loading of PDFs so slow (say 3 minutes for 100kb) that the app is practically unusable. See this video https://photos.app.goo.gl/LmC8Ni7Fp3qJrQeF7 for a comparison with iOS on the same WIFI.

dstillman · 2025-11-29T20:59:50+00:00

(Again, please always stick to your original thread for the same issue. I've merged this back here.)

Are you still seeing the same behavior where if you switch to another collection and back, the file shows as downloaded?

Can you provide a Debug ID for tapping download and waiting 20 seconds?

burgarth · 2025-11-30T07:05:04+00:00

Sure, thanks. Here is one D2137284227.

burgarth · 2025-11-30T07:08:58+00:00

In this case, the download finished after 30s and the file is 900kb. I cannot reproduce the switch collection behavior you were referring to, perhaps that is gone.