Group Sync | Network Storage

bryangoodrich
I'm testing if Zotero will be right for my research group (government) and want to find the most cost effective means to improving our citation management. Zotero has been amazing for my personal use, but I am completely novice to the syncing and group management aspect of Zotero.

We have network storage with 1 TB available. Therefore, it wouldn't make sense to sync (store?) to a paid cloud service if I can use our network storage drives. I have searched Zotero for information on this, but I seem to keep finding things pre-Zotero 2.0 from like 2008.

(1) Is there Documentation I'm just not finding that discusses this, I would think, common situation in research facilities?

(2) If there is not documentation, can someone explain to me if I should be looking at Sync options or merely Storage options? For instance, if I set my preferences to not Sync group content and set my storage options (Advanced tab) to the network drive, will this store group content (attachments) on my share (S) drive? Will this keep the attachments accessible to the rest in my group that also have access to the S drive? Or am I completely off the mark and need to approach this differently?

(3) Is there another thread I missed that discusses this topic? Feel free to redirect me to alleviate my ignorance.
  • adamsmith
    There is no simple way to use your existing network capacity for storage with Zotero.

    Using the option described by you under 2) is strongly adviced against. The Zotero database is not designed to be accessible by multiple users at the same time. Best case it will lock down and don't work for other users. Worst (and pretty likely) case it will get corrupted.

    Depending on your needs and capabilities you have four main options:
    1. Do not share documents in your groups, just metadata. That's free with Zotero.
    2. Store your attachments not with Zotero, but as "link to files" (as opposed to "store copy of file). You can keep the folder with all linked files on the network drive. You may be able to use the Zotfile plugin to facilitate the process. http://www.columbia.edu/~jpl2136/zotfile.html
    3. The entire server side code of Zotero is open source and it's generally possible to run the entire sync operation on your server, but it's pretty advanced and you need someone who really knows what s/he is doing. No support is provided by the Zotero team for this option, but some community documentation exists: http://www.zotero.org/support/dev/dataserver_setup
    4. Use Zotero storage after all.
  • dstillman
    Note that, for #2, you can't add links to files accessed through the filesystem within groups (since often they wouldn't be accessible from different systems), but you can add links to files accessible via web (including intranet) links.
  • bryangoodrich
    Thanks for the suggestions. I'm definitely going to look into the ZotFile add-on as it appears to have a lot of nice functionality (e.g., the renaming conventions).

    Under my Group Libraries, the option for "Attach link to file ..." is not available (it is available under My Libraries). Is this what Dan was getting at?

    I assume that when I attach a link to the file on, say, my S drive (network share), that it should point to that file for anyone in the group? Then in that case, anyone in the group should have access to the file through that associated link? But as pointed out, the option is not available for groups. So option 2 is not really usable? This seems, to me, the best approach if there is a way to get it to work. Otherwise, option 4 would be the most efficient (but require getting budget approval).

    Maybe ZotFile will help with this, but is there an easy way to attach files as a link like the drag-and-drop methods? Currently I either drop from a URL or from a file in my Explorer window (I assumed this still stored the file and was not a link, but I could be wrong). Or is the way to keep things as a link is to store the files manually onto the network share and then go through the process of attach-as-link and selecting that stored file? Or does the drag-drop from Explorer create a link instead of storage?
  • bryangoodrich
    Looking at ZotFile, it has an option for "Add link to file and move to ..." I don't assume these forums are for ZotFile support, but in regard to option 2, are you aware if this might make it feasible? Is that true, even for groups or am I just being hopeful?
  • adamsmith
    Yeah, option two is going to be hard then, I forgot about that limitation (and yes, I mentioned ZotFile because it's the only way I know of to conveniently create links to files - but that won't work for groups...).
    It's still theoretically possible using the "add link to current page" function while having an item saved on the Network drive open in FF, but I don't see how to turn this into a usabel workflow.
    An alternative would be to, instead of using a group, just share a single account in your entire working group. Those of you who want to maintain a separate, private Zotero account could use separate FF profiles.
  • bryangoodrich
    I'm glad you mentioned that alternative, because it is something I was wondering, myself. I just didn't like the idea of having to force everyone to use a single account. I also wondered if it might pose problems for having multiple users on a single account doing simultaneous edits to the library. I thought I might have read something cautioning against something like this specifically because it could cause corruption. What do you think? And thanks again for mentioning ZotFile. I had not heard of it, but I'm loving its renaming capabilities. It actually renames them similar to my own conventions, but even better!
  • adamsmith
    No, there is no risk of corruption with several users using one account, syncing the zotero database to the zotero server (for free) and keeping attachments as links to file on a network drive (I believe there are working groups who have been doing this for a while).

    The only real risk for corruption is if you place the zotero.sqlite (or the zotero folder containing it) on a location where it's accessible for more than one computer at once - i.e. on a network drive, dropbox etc. - thus my warning against your original option 2).
    But what you would do is to have multiple users edit separate locale copies of the database and then sync them - which would merge edits and query you in the case of conflicts. The sync is designed to prevent corruption. (I hope the difference is clear - if not ask before you do something risky with your database).

    The only downside I can see for using a single account is that people can't easily move items between the group library and their personal library.
  • bryangoodrich
    So you're saying to sync the metadata to Zotero servers but set the file storage to the network drive (Custom Data Directory Location under Advanced Tab?). That should work fine. It sounds like a reasonable option. Since I'm the only one in our group that has a Zotero account, I don't think it would be a big issue to get the other users on-board using a single collectively-used account.

    The only feasible way to deal with switching between this "group" account and any personal account they might want to set up is to use multiple FF profiles, right? I think it would be neat (though, maybe not that desired) if Zotero had the option for having multiple accounts in one profile (maybe with a log-in or at least a "select which account to access"). Even better, just have them all in the Collection tree, but separated (like the separation between My Libraries and Group Libraries). I know for one that I would like to have access to my personal libraries and work libraries from work, but I don't really want to have to load my work libraries when I sync the account at home (currently I just keep their content filed under separate folders).

    You mentioned keeping file attachments -as links to files- on the network drive. If the Data Directory is set to the network drive, does it matter whether it is stored or linked? The attachments aren't being synced, only the metadata is. I'm thinking about what would keep things the easiest, since the drag-and-drop for attachments defaults to storage, not linking, right?
  • adamsmith
    No, that's not quite it. You can't set the storage folder in the advanced tab of the preferences. That option sets the location for the entire Zotero directory, including the zotero.sqlite. As noted above, you shouldn't put this on a network drive.

    That's the reason I keep going on about links. You keep the zotero folder where it is and sync metadata. That gets everyone the citations. To get everyone the attachments you keep the files in one folder (with or w/o subfolder as you like on the network drive) and store them as "link to file" in Zotero - you'd do that probably using zotfile, but manually doing this will work, too.
    This option will take more effort than simply using Zotero storage - e.g. there is no option to use drag&drop for links to a file, automatically attached pdfs and snapshots are stored and not linked and you'll have to deal with that manually or via zotfile - there is a reason people pay for the zotero storage.
  • bryangoodrich
    Thanks again. I'm sure I'll have to keep a README file to explain this to the other users along with the training I'll have to give them! The Zotero storage option will probably be the final choice, but getting them used to it with a collective account and seeing how awesome Zotero is should definitely make the migration desirable. Also, when we next have to upgrade our Endnote, the Zotero storage will present as a -much- cheaper option! (1 large storage account for many users versus many user/group licenses and the associated hassle). It just seems like a hard(er) sale right now since we just had a big hassle with our current Endnote licensing and upgrade that I never want to deal with again. Management will want to get their money's worth on that before we say "yeah, we didn't need to make that purchase."
  • mark
    Dan wrote, in reference to adamsmith's options:
    Note that, for #2, you can't add links to files accessed through the filesystem within groups (since often they wouldn't be accessible from different systems), but you can add links to files accessible via web (including intranet) links.
    I would argue that the disabling of this feature might need rethinking. As far as I see it would be easy enough for you to allow for this option, making it possible for groups to link to PDFs on network servers. Research groups within institutions make up an important portion of the userbase for group libraries. Often they already have shared network drives consistently mapped to the same drive letter on every system. Why disable what could be a neat alternative to attachment sharing for many groups?
  • bryangoodrich
    Is there no configuration options to change, like some kind of flag in an about:config area of FF? I assume not, and I understand the reason for disabling the option for general use, but as Mark pointed out, in institutional settings where things should remain consistent across platforms, it shouldn't pose a problem. No?
  • mark
    Here's a fifth potential setup, not mentioned by adamsmith:

    At my institution there are several research groups using (1) webdav storage supplied by the institute for personal libraries and (2) one paid Zotero account which supplies storage space to several group libraries.

    So everyone has their own personal library, the attachments of which are synced using Webdav. And everyone has access to one or more group libraries, owned by the paid Zotero account. These groups use the storage space that comes with that account. No hassle with multiple profiles, and users don't have to buy their own storage for their Zotero accounts. The technical knowhow needed for this setup is limited to setting up a webdav server with personal folders for every user.
  • bryangoodrich
    Yeah, I thought about just setting up a Webdav server. I've never done it, but I have the background to do it. The problem is that a separate division maintains our information services. While I may be able to work with them to set something up for me, it would be a big administrative hassle. I should still look into it, though. Is there good documentation on Zotero about Webdav or does anyone have some links for me to reference?
  • adamsmith
    edited July 20, 2011
    note that the problem with webdav is that it doesn't work for group storage, only for individuals. Mark's group is using this so they only need one paid storage account but everyone can still sync the files from their private libraries.
    Once you have a WebDav, using it with Zotero is very simple:
    http://www.zotero.org/support/sync#webdav
    There are some scripts on setting up webdav on your own server on the forum and, I believe, on some blog, but I can't vouch for them and don't know where they are offhand.

    And no, there's no hidden pref/about:config option that toggles the attachment behavior.
  • kmpenner
    I agree with Mark's recommendation of extending the "Attach link to file" feature to group libraries: "I would argue that the disabling of this feature might need rethinking. As far as I see it would be easy enough for you to allow for this option, making it possible for groups to link to PDFs on network servers."
  • christian.rwevans
    I'd like to +1 Mark's suggestion/request to enable "Attach link to file" for group libraries. At my workplace, we are all on the same network and network paths will work as long as we use our Zotero group library at work (which will be 99% of the use). Would this be a difficult feature to implement? Thank-you.
  • jsfzot
    edited May 21, 2014
    I'll chime in with a request for enabling "Attach link to file" for group libraries. At the moment, this is the single biggest hurdle that is preventing my group at work from using Zotero. We will not use Zotero "cloud" file storage for simple security reasons.
  • tariq_aziz_37
    I have a problem. I forgot to put the backup in any other drive but after installing new window and I have saveed all my paper that was in zotero directory,the data directory was in C dirve, After installing the windows it give me restore of my zotero data in the form of many folders.How can I import those folder in to zotero again is it possible?
  • aurimas
    What are the names of some of these folders?
  • tariq_aziz_37
    The names are in Alphabetic and in numeric digits as a mixed.
  • aurimas
    Please start a new thread for further help with your issue (red button at the top left of this page). While you're at it, here are some questions to look into.

    So the folders look something like "4P53QT72"? These folders should all be inside a "storage" directory, which should be inside another directory that also contains a "zotero.sqlite" file. Use this top-most directory as you backup directory in these instructions
  • tariq_aziz_37
    ok sir thanks I got it.It mean i have to move the storage folder in to my zotero backup files and zotero.sqlite file too the same directory?
  • aurimas
    Start a new thread
Sign In or Register to comment.