Rename file from Metadata not working

Using Zotero 2.1.1 on Mac; firefox 4; latest Mac OS

I have a bunch of files I want to rename from Metadata, which has never been a problem in the past. Now, however, this function simply doesn't work.

Any ideas?
  • edited March 26, 2011
    How exactly does it fail?
    edit: oops sorry, wrong funtion - but it'd still be good to know how this fails.
    Also, have you made sure that the file really is not renamed?
  • OK, so now the picture looks more complicated. I have just renamed and pdf from metadata that I have previously worked on. It works fine.

    A bunch of PDF files that I recently downloaded however will not change. I highlight the file, click on the rename to metadata option, and nothing happens.

    And something further odd - I have just gone to look for the file, but when I ask to "show file" it tells me it can't be found. Lets see if I can view the file.... No. Ok, let me see if I can solve this little mystery. But a question - if the files are no longer in Zotero for some reason, why are they still listed in my library as if they were all there A-ok?
  • the file is listed in Zotero as long as your database has it listed - whether it's there or not (e.g. if you don't sync files, you'll still see the pdf attachments in Zotero on the computer that doesn't actually have a stored copy).
    So what happened here is that Zotero is looking in the wrong link -
    if you feel like a little detective work, looking at the debug output for looking for such a file can probably help you make sense of what happened - the actual file - most likely still there but with a wrong (?) name - will be in the same folder that Zotero looks.
  • thanks. I'll see what I can do about this debugging. I think I downloaded these files on my other computer, which should have synced them to here using my webdav server setup.

    Hmmm. The knowledge base page does not appear to have a "how to debug" entry. Nor does tips and tricks. I will experiment.....
  • edited March 26, 2011
    http://www.zotero.org/support/debug_output?s[]=tab

    instead of submitting click on view.

    edit: ah - if the files didn't sync (yet) this is probably exactly the behavior you'd see so that seems quite plausible.
  • OK, figured out the debug (quite straightforward in the event).

    It appears that the folder which the file should be in does not exist on this computer. I suppose it must exist on the other computer in order for this issue to emerge.

    Any advice on how to actually get them to sync?

    I usually download on this computer and then sync to the other one; I believe this is the first time I have done it the other way around. It would be useful to know if this problem will happen each time, or how to avoid it (the other computer is a new one at work).
  • thanks for the debug link. I did search for it, "how to debug" - nothing useful came up....
  • http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/files_not_syncing

    it's much easier to find these if you know that they exist, don't worry.
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