Importing library fails due to secure files

vinco
I'm attempting to import a zotero library off of a dead laptop. I backed it up earlier, but didn't notice that some of the PDF's in the library had been encrypted through Windows on the other side. Now, the import process fails when it hits an encrypted PDF. I have both an RDF and an RIS export of the library. The prior library is either from 2.0.7 or 2.0.8. Any way I can work around this issue to import the references and non-encrypted PDF's?

For what it's worth, I've got a few hundred references with attachments.

Thanks,
-Vinco
  • adamsmith
    nothing immediate comes to mind.
    You don't have an actual back-up of the library?
    http://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data

    Anything systematic about the items with encrypted pdfs?
    How many of those do you think are there?
  • vinco
    Doing a quick search, 15 of the 417 PDF's are encrypted. Unfortunately, all I have are the library exports, and not a saved copy of the actual sqlite database.
  • adamsmith
    well - couldn't you just delete the 15 entries with encrypted PDFs (or just delete the link to the pdf, actually, that way you'll keep the data)?
    Open the RDF file with a text-editor and then edit and save.

    That doesn't seem so much work.
  • vinco
    Now that work has become marginally sane again, I'm back to trying to restore my library. My first attempt at going in and deleting everything from the z:Attachment through /z:Attachment tag in notepad seems to leave me with an invalid file. Any suggestions for the correct way to remove the pdf links?

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