However, you then need to right click the new citation, select ‘Manage Attachments’, and then select ‘Rename Attachments.’ Zotfile will then take over and apply the settings you’ve specified (including moving the pdf to your chosen location in Google Drive).
If the first, Zotero should automatically lookup the metadata for the item and create a citation for it in your library. When you say adding files do you mean you are dragging and dropping pdf’s into Zotero or you’re saving items from webpages? I think I know what the issue is (and its my fault).
I have this set up on my home PC and institutional PC so I can access my zotero library and pdf’s from both locations (and any changes in terms of saving new items, or deleting other items, will carry across both devices).įiled Under: Software Tagged With: academic, backup, citation manager, cloud sync, dropbox, endnote, google drive, mendeley, open access, open science, reference manager, refworks, research, scholarly, university, zotero, zotfile You don’t need to do this for items you save from your browser.Īs long as you keep these settings the same on your devices they should sync properly and work together nicely due to the ‘relative paths’ feature. There is an extra step if you’re dragging and dropping the pdf’s in to Zotero: Once Zotero has finished looking up the metadata and creating new citation entries for the pdf’s, simply select all of the items you’ve just added and right click, select ‘Manage attachments,’ then select ‘Rename attachments.’ This allows Zotero to hand things over to Zotfile so it can apply the settings you’ve specified above (by renaming and moving the pdf’s to the desired location). You’re all set! Now whenever you save citations with the ‘Save to Zotero’ button in your browser, the pdf’s will be placed in your google drive folder and backed up. Max title length helps to ensure your filenames don’t exceed the maximum in Windows. Open Zotero and select ‘Edit’ from the top menu, then ‘Preferences’ and make sure the settings from sections marked with a red dot below match yours (other settings are optional): Add a new folder to Google Drive called something like \Zotero. so for example you might have something like C:\Users\Tom\Google Drive\. If you have multiple hard drives put it on the one you use for data/media/storage. Once installed, click the cloud icon in your system tray, then click the three dots in the top right of the pane that opens, and select ‘Preferences.’ On the Google Drive tab, select where you want your Google Drive folder to be on your PC.
Head over to Google Drive and download the ‘Backup & Sync’ app. (or your preferred cloud sync app such as Dropbox)
From now on, Zotero will automatically update itself and Zotfile for you. Inside Zotero, click ‘Tools’ from the top menu, and then ‘Addons.’ Then click the gear icon in the top right corner and select ‘Install Addon From File.’ Select the Zotfile. Then head over to, right-click on the ‘Download’ link at the top, and select ‘Save Link As’ to save the Zotfile addon.
Install Zotero + Zotfileĭownload and install Zotero and a ‘Zotero Connector’ for your browser. In order to convert revert linked attachments back to stored attachments automatically see Dan Stillman’s comment on the Zotero forum here. It also means I can share files with groups. I started paying for Zotero storage since June 2019 and I can honestly recommend it as a much simpler way to achieve file syncing over the free limit, if you can spare the money. Update: The Backup & Sync app used to save and manage items in Google Drive has recently changed, and while the methods outlined in this guide may continue to work, I won’t be supporting this guide any longer.
But just a heads up, with this method you won’t be able to sync files from group libraries, so if file syncing with groups is important to you I would suggest paying the small fee for a Zotero storage plan.
Just set up each of your devices as shown below. This way, you can sync as many documents as you want and access them on multiple devices easily.
I thought I would put together a quick guide for how to set up Zotero with Google Drive (or other similar cloud backup options).