retrieving WebDAV attachments

According to the file sync documentation, "Zotero File Storage allows you to access your Zotero-attached files from any computer with a web browser." I assume this happens through the (pdf) icons beneath entries in the 'My Library' tab on the Zotero website? My question is, is one able likewise to retrieve attached files which have been backed up through a WebDAV service (i.e., JungleDisk) on another computer (i.e., one without Zotero installed)? If so, how? Thanks.
  • Just to clarify... I'm able to access my storage through JungleDisk itself, but I don't see how to locate a particular file in this way, because the stored folder structure has those weird random names, which can't be decoded without the Zotero plugin itself. Can my synced Zotero database ('My Library' on the Zotero website) be of any use in this respect?
  • My question is, is one able likewise to retrieve attached files which have been backed up through a WebDAV service (i.e., JungleDisk) on another computer (i.e., one without Zotero installed)?
    No. Web-based access to attachments is available only if you use Zotero File Storage (and it's currently limited to single-file attachments such as PDFs). There are various technical problems that prevent web-based access to attachments synced to WebDAV from being feasible.
  • Thanks, Dan. It would be extremely helpful, in that case, if the attachment report/listing on the Zotero site could provide the name of the folder in which it is stored locally (item id). Has this been discussed?
  • It's unlikely that we'd do that. Those are intended as internal identifiers. The files are stored on WebDAV servers as ZIP files, and due to a current technical limitation in Firefox the filenames of the files within the ZIP are encoded—the files really aren't intended to be opened manually. While it's possible to figure out the random eight-character string, unzip the appropriate file, rename the file inside (if there's only one) with the appropriate extension, and open it, that's not exactly the user experience we're going for, so it's not something we're going to encourage even implicitly. We created Zotero File Storage because it allows us to provide the best possible user experience.
  • It certainly does, I agree. It's only cost, like the 15¢/Gb flexibility of Amazon, that brings alternatives into the pic. for me. Thanks for your feedback.
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