Same problem We have a number of Onfolio users in our shop who are stuck: we either have to use IE-7 or an old version of Firefox. On the other hand, we have lots of data stored in Onfolio files.
Anyone who could write a script that could translate Onfolio files into Zotero files would get a large bouquet of flowers from me.
Same for me. I've been using the Pre-Microsoft version of Onfolio for a couple of years now and love it. But since Microsoft ruined Onfolio and the pre-MS version is no longer supported, I need to move over to another program of similar or greater power and usefulness. Zotero looks like it could be the one. If I could import my Onfolio collections (about 11GB worth) into Zotero it would be a big help.
From a ~5-second search, it looks like Onfolio has some XML-based export option for collection data. I'd recommend putting up a sample file somewhere and linking to it from here, as you might get more feedback on the feasibility of this if people who don't have access to Onfolio can see what the format looks like.
A few years ago I implemented Onfolio as a tool for editors for a metadata project where I work. I used the tool Dan refers to (cfs2xml.exe, see: http://www.onfolio.com/support/kb/okb128.cfm) and wrote XSL to produce RDF.
It probably requires some moderate XSL/T experience. No idea how you would transfer "captured" pages from Onfolio to Zotero. The cfs2xml utility has a "-sd" option that will at least dump the files. Onfolio notes are embedded in the xml.
Is there any way that Zotero developers could create a generic XSL code that would allow Onfolio users to export an Onfolio collection (including the organizational structure of the collection (e.g., folders and sub-folders) and the metadata for each individual file such as the URL where it came from, tags/keywords, comments, and reference information) as an XML file or RDF file (or whatever format Zotero can use) that could then be imported into Zotero in a way that preserves the Onfolio folder structure and file metadata?
Onfolio has a built-in export function that allows you to export everything in the collection as separate files into a folder on your hard drive. The files can then be moved into Zotero. The problem is that if you do it this way, you lose all the organizational information (i.e., folder structure) and file metadata that was in the Onfolio collection. What goes into Zotero is just a bunch of individual PDF, html, etc., files with no metadata. So this method isn't really an option for people who have thousands of files in Onfolio (as I do).
Although I don't know how to write the code, I'm happy to help in any way I can in creating a way to go from Onfolio to Zotero, such as testing out sample export code on my collections, providing information on the nuts and bolts of Onfolio, etc.
I've used the program cfs2xml.exe to create and xml file from an Onfolio collection. However, when I try to import this file into Zotero, Zotero returns an error message "No Translator Can Be Found for the Given File."
My question: What does this mean and how can I tell Zotero what it needs to know to make sense of the XML file?
If it would help, I can send a copy of the XML file I created.
I share with several commentators above the problem of needing to move from Onfolio to another web-clipping program. I'm an academic, and I used Onfolio--a wonderful program--to collect webpages containing articles, news items, etc., that pertain to my research projects. To do this I created, in Onfolio, dozens of folders, one for each general topic, and within each folder I created many subfolders, each for a sub-topic within that general topic. I then filed the webpages that interested me into one or more of those subfolders. I did this over a period of a couple of years, and by now have a very extensive collection of such webpage-filled folders and subfolders (Onfolio calls it "My Collections"). Given the orphaned fate of Onfolio--bought by Microsoft, stripped of many of its features when Microsoft made it a Windows Live plug-in, and then, recently, killed altogether--I need to move all of my painfully-collected webpages, within their folders and subfolders, to another program, whether the material resides on my hard drive (as Onfolio-collected material resided) or on the drive of the software-maker (as Furl does). It looks as if Zotero may approximate the capacities of Onfolio. Is there a way that a non-technical person such as myself could transfer his or her Onfolio "My Collections" to Zotero--or any other program? I know I'm not the only person who has this problem. Anyone who could accomplish this would be greatly appreciated by quite a few people. If anyone has any suggestions about this, could they contact me? My email is wreich@gwu.edu. Many, many thanks!
Walter
I too am in the same situation, moving to a new computer and will not be able to reactivate my large and very valuable Onfolio collection. I can be reached at gjk29@cornell.edu if anyone has any suggestions.
If Zotero cannot handle the transition, would you know of any other programs that might be able to convert the Onfolio files and organizational structure?
Since my last post on 7/6/08 regarding the need to move dowloaded files from Onfolio to Zotero, there have been several posts by people with the same need. Moreover, I've received several inquires in response to a similar post I left on an Onfolio forum. I'm writing this to inform anyone who has this problem that, so far, I have found no way of achieving this goal other than to opean each of the several hundreds of saved webpages I've downloaded into my Onfolio folders, most of them newspaper articles or items that appeared on various websites, and try to load them into the Zotero format. I should caution everyone who tries to use these wonderful post-paper-file computer tools that they have serious limitations: the tools can disappear, together with the data collected using them, because the organizations that develop and maintain them regularly disappear. After Onfolio disappeared I started using Furl, which in some ways was better because it was in the "cloud" (i.e., on the company's server) so that one could gain access to it from any computer; moreover, one could easily file the same article in many different topic-folders if it related to many different topics. Furl had hoped to get advertisers; it didn't, so it transferred its data to Diigo. However, this transfer was poor; if the name of the folder contained several words, those words got broken up and became multiple folders, with the downloaded webpages apportioned haphazardly among them. Meanwhile, I also tried to do the same thing using Google Notebook; Google kept it designated as "Beta" until it discovered that it didn't get many ads and so dropped it. So researcher beware: all outfits (including, I assume, Zotero) are subject to disappearance, together with all of your data. Having said that, I remain impressed with Zotero's capabilities, hope that a "business model" that depends on foundations (as Zotero does) is more promising than one that depends on ads and is less likely to be bought up by Microsoft, as Onfolio was, and then discarded, as Onfolio was. If ANYONE discovers a way to migrate Onfolio folders to Zotero, and can explain it in a non-technical way, then I'd be very grateful; but I'm not holding my breath.
So researcher beware: all outfits (including, I assume, Zotero) are subject to disappearance, together with all of your data.
The major difference with Zotero is that as it is open source and supported by a major academic institution it is much less likely to disappear entirely, especially with such a large user base. I would imagine that even if the Zotero project was scrapped in the future the program would remain available for quite a long time (e.g. at addons.mozilla.org).
Secondly Zotero's commitment to open standards means that it will be fairly simple to export data in a usable form, and it should even be possible to extract at least some data directly from the sqlite database if Zotero really did drop off the face of the earth.
While Zotero is not immune to disappearance (although at the moment I'd say the forecast is for a long and bright future), I would feel a lot happier trusting my data to Zotero than to a closed source commercial software package with associated data lock-in issues.
(I realise that I am sounding evangelical here - my point is just that, given that computerised citation management is a necessity, not a choice, for modern researchers, a large open project like Zotero is definitely the way to go from a data safety standpoint).
P.S. I feel your pain re. Onfolio - few things are as infuriating as having your precious data sentenced to death by corporate whim.
Many thanks for your sympathy regarding the loss of my data, and for feeling my pain. Regarding the danger of something similar happening with Zotero: I suspect it's more likely than Onfolio to survive--I think it has a larger user-base--but there are, of course, no guarantees. The minute I hear the phrase "open source" I know that there's little hope for those who are not computer geeks; if the Zotero outfit lost its funding and went out of business, then no one would pick up the program and support it, and one would be left with...well, I don't know exactly what one would be left with. I don't know if there would be a program that could be used. And when Firefox goes to a new version, it might not be compatible with an orphaned Zotero. I wouldn't be saying all of this if I hadn't already been burned by the Onfolio, Furl, Google and Diigo programs. I'm afraid this phenomenon is endemic in the world of software applications, particularly specialized ones that don't already have an enormous user base, like Microsoft Word. Come to think of it, it's a vicious circle: one uses the most widely-used programs because they're widely-used, and then they become even more widely-used, with the competing programs never being able to catch on. I would still be grateful if anyone comes up with a way to migrate my Onfolio downloads, or even my Furl and Diigo downloads, to Zotero. But as I said earlier, I'm not holding my breath.
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Anyone who could write a script that could translate Onfolio files into Zotero files would get a large bouquet of flowers from me.
Mark
Joel
It probably requires some moderate XSL/T experience. No idea how you would transfer "captured" pages from Onfolio to Zotero. The cfs2xml utility has a "-sd" option that will at least dump the files. Onfolio notes are embedded in the xml.
Simple sample:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<cfsdata title="myOnfolioStuff">
<folder collectionid="d598d4e9-ced6-4897-8602-eb34218cdb74" id="ac1f54fc-fbd6-47ac-90e9-80cb28bb45b8" name="Folder">
<item collectionid="d598d4e9-ced6-4897-8602-eb34218cdb74" id="c7f673a9-892b-4020-89ae-59f93a8dcf8d" name="My collection" type="link">
<comment />
<flag type="None" importance="0">None</flag>
<url>http://some.website.com/page.html</url>;
<sourceurl />
<search />
<author />
<copyright />
<keywords />
<datecaptured>2005-01-19T09:40:27-05:00</datecaptured>
<datemodified>2005-01-19T09:41:35-05:00</datemodified>
<dateaddedtofolder>2005-01-19T09:40:27-05:00</dateaddedtofolder>
<custom>
<field>
<name>Custom 1</name>
<value />
</field>
<field>
<name>Custom 2</name>
<value />
</field>
<field>
<name>Custom 3</name>
<value />
</field>
<field>
<name>Custom 4</name>
<value />
</field>
<field>
<name>Custom 5</name>
<value />
</field>
<field>
<name>Custom 6</name>
<value />
</field>
</custom>
<publishUrl>http://some.website.com/page.html</publishUrl>;
<absolutePublishUrl>http://some.website.com/page.html</absolutePublishUrl>;
</item>
</folder>
</folder>
</cfsdta>
Onfolio has a built-in export function that allows you to export everything in the collection as separate files into a folder on your hard drive. The files can then be moved into Zotero. The problem is that if you do it this way, you lose all the organizational information (i.e., folder structure) and file metadata that was in the Onfolio collection. What goes into Zotero is just a bunch of individual PDF, html, etc., files with no metadata. So this method isn't really an option for people who have thousands of files in Onfolio (as I do).
Although I don't know how to write the code, I'm happy to help in any way I can in creating a way to go from Onfolio to Zotero, such as testing out sample export code on my collections, providing information on the nuts and bolts of Onfolio, etc.
Thanks,
Joel
Thanks,
Giuseppe
My question: What does this mean and how can I tell Zotero what it needs to know to make sense of the XML file?
If it would help, I can send a copy of the XML file I created.
Thanks,
Joel
Walter
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956489/en-us/download/
Was anything done by anyone as to allow exports of Onfolio collections with metadata elsewhere? Zotero? Anything else?
Thank you. Pavel
I have to do it soon because i need to reformat my hard drive and I know I wont be able to activate my Onfolio
If Zotero cannot handle the transition, would you know of any other programs that might be able to convert the Onfolio files and organizational structure?
Secondly Zotero's commitment to open standards means that it will be fairly simple to export data in a usable form, and it should even be possible to extract at least some data directly from the sqlite database if Zotero really did drop off the face of the earth.
While Zotero is not immune to disappearance (although at the moment I'd say the forecast is for a long and bright future), I would feel a lot happier trusting my data to Zotero than to a closed source commercial software package with associated data lock-in issues.
(I realise that I am sounding evangelical here - my point is just that, given that computerised citation management is a necessity, not a choice, for modern researchers, a large open project like Zotero is definitely the way to go from a data safety standpoint).
P.S. I feel your pain re. Onfolio - few things are as infuriating as having your precious data sentenced to death by corporate whim.
Many thanks for your sympathy regarding the loss of my data, and for feeling my pain. Regarding the danger of something similar happening with Zotero: I suspect it's more likely than Onfolio to survive--I think it has a larger user-base--but there are, of course, no guarantees. The minute I hear the phrase "open source" I know that there's little hope for those who are not computer geeks; if the Zotero outfit lost its funding and went out of business, then no one would pick up the program and support it, and one would be left with...well, I don't know exactly what one would be left with. I don't know if there would be a program that could be used. And when Firefox goes to a new version, it might not be compatible with an orphaned Zotero. I wouldn't be saying all of this if I hadn't already been burned by the Onfolio, Furl, Google and Diigo programs. I'm afraid this phenomenon is endemic in the world of software applications, particularly specialized ones that don't already have an enormous user base, like Microsoft Word. Come to think of it, it's a vicious circle: one uses the most widely-used programs because they're widely-used, and then they become even more widely-used, with the competing programs never being able to catch on. I would still be grateful if anyone comes up with a way to migrate my Onfolio downloads, or even my Furl and Diigo downloads, to Zotero. But as I said earlier, I'm not holding my breath.