File/Snapshot Confusion

[ahoward]

There is some confusing behavior that Zotero exhibits in distinguishing between stored files and snapshots. There may be some rationale for keeping things the way they are, but I thought I would at least mention it.

When a file is added to the library by right clicking on a link or on an image directly in the Firefox window, then selecting "Save Link [Image] as Zotero Snapshot", Zotero continues to treat that file in the library as a snapshot, whether it actually is, or not. Functionally, there's little or no difference, but the terminology is a little screwy. For instance, in the info pane of any file that is stored this way, the button says "View Snapshot" rather than "View File". The icons for PDFs change appropriately, but images and probably most other files appear as snapshot icons, rather than document icons.

Obviously, it does this because, as far as Zotero is concerned the file being stored IS a snapshot. Perhaps that's not the way we want it, though. It would probably make sense, if it's possible, to get Zotero to distinguish what type of file is being stored via Firefox. Changing the file type from a snapshot to a stored file should take care of most of the problems, such as the info pane and the icon, if I understand it correctly. The contextual menu should also be changed, though. Can this be done based on whether the link being stored is an HTML file or something else? "Save Link as Zotero Snapshot" becomes "Save File to Zotero", say.

I'm also a little leery of using "Link" in this context and manner, since a "Link to a File" in Zotero is something else entirely, and we're not storing a link in the Zotero sense, but storing a copy.