Deleting PDFs but Keep Parent Item

khanhm4 · 2026-04-29T03:01:04+00:00

Hi all,
I am trying to clear up storage and delete the PDFs out of Zotero, but keep the citations/parent item. How can I do this quickly?

TXJohnson · 2026-05-01T23:04:04+00:00

For individual PDFs: in the item pane, locate the attachments section (PDFs are considered an attachment to the item). To the right of the attachment filename there should be either a remove button, or three dots which opens a menu with a remove option.

If you want to delete everything you can select "Purge Storage in My Library" at https://www.zotero.org/settings/storage which will delete all of your attachments (so make sure to make a local backup first)

warguelles · 2026-05-02T00:53:47+00:00

Maybe, you are also asking about this:

https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/131253/solved-how-to-remove-synced-attachments-from-server-but-not-from-library

RamonMi · 2026-05-02T01:45:10+00:00

Delete item(s) with attachment(s) allow you to delete items in bulk. You can install this plugin and trigger the context menu 'Delete All Attachment(s) only' or shortcut 'Alt+A'. The PDF/EPUB/HTML attachments will be moved to Trash.