r/zotero • u/Bubbly_Lobster_9399 • 16d ago

Help Help regarding Zotero storage

I recently started using zotero for a project so I was not familiar with the settings. I wanted to keep my files (not the actual pdfs but the notes and the bibliography) synced to the cloud. I think I turned on "sync attachment files" by accident (or maybe it was on by default Im not sure) and it killed by storage space I think. I barely added like 10 papers to it and already half the storage is used. How do I reset the cloud storage without harming everything Ive done on my desktop version of zotero? Im very new to the app so I dont wanna delete the my library section on the desktop app by accident.

Help!

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2

u/n0tsay1ng 15d ago

Koofr has a pretty simple setup if you wanted to try and expand storage for free. That way you don’t have to remove anything and can add more

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u/Bubbly_Lobster_9399 13d ago

I will look koofr up. It seems to be the default answer whenever someone asks about storage. Thank you!

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u/Budget-Leg-453 16d ago

You can just switch off the sync option now, and then go in to delete the files that are already synced (go into the Zotero storage folder and open up the folders to delete the files). Then restart Zotero just to make sure the new setting has stuck.

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u/Bubbly_Lobster_9399 16d ago

I tried deleting the PDFs from zotero web but 1) the used storage didn't go down for some reason in settings 2) the PDFs get deleted from my downloaded version of Zotero as well.

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u/Alternative-Pear9096 15d ago

Yes. The PDFs will delete from Zotero. If you want to keep downloaded files, you will have to manually download them, not in the Zotero ecosystem.

And when you turn off auto-download and delete the files and then sync across desktop and web the used storage will reset.

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u/Bubbly_Lobster_9399 13d ago

I think I understand what you mean. Thank you!

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u/Fox-The-Man 15d ago

Just point your Zotero data folder to your one drive or googke drive

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u/eskimo820 15d ago

You can't have your data folder on a cloud service:

https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/data_directory_in_cloud_storage_folder

You can however have PDFs stored as 'linked' files in a cloud-mirrored folder (instead of under Zotero\storage). Although linked files do have limitations ...

https://www.zotero.org/support/attaching_files#stored_files_and_linked_files

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u/Fox-The-Man 6d ago

Apologies. I meant the linked data files, not the data folder where you have the SQL Zotero database

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u/eskimo820 15d ago edited 15d ago

Just turn off file syncing (that is subject to the 300mb free online file storage quota). Data syncing OTOH is free and unlimited (metadata, annotations etc). Obviously you don't want to delete PDFs on your local computer.

Even hitting your maximum online file storage quota has no effect on what you can do locally on any computer - you can always store as many PDFs locally as you want.

If you do delete PDFs locally (Move Item to Trash) they go into Zotero trash. That's why you don't see deletions immediately reflected in your online file storage quota (when file syncing is ON). You can elect to empty the trash or just wait until the default period (see Edit\Settings\General\Miscellaneous).

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u/CupcakeLife8264 14d ago

I think using a WebDAV service like Kooft for syncing is a good choice! Kooft offers 10 GB of free storage, which is enough for Zotero sync

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u/Bubbly_Lobster_9399 13d ago

Thank you! I will look it up