Zotero

When you leave Harvard, you’ll still have access to any references/items that you have downloaded to your Zotero desktop application. However, if your cloud storage amount exceeds 300MB (the free amount), you will not be able to sync any additional items to the Zotero cloud, and you will not have access via your online library to items that exceed the 300MB limit.

Before leaving, consider taking the following steps:

• Change your primary email address
• Check your current storage amounts 
• Make a plan for storage limits 
• Link Zotero to a new academic institution

Before leaving Harvard, change your primary email address from your Harvard email address to an email account that you check regularly. Note that once you do so, you may lose access to the unlimited cloud storage that the Harvard institutional subscription offers (consult Make a Plan for Storage Limits for alternative storage options). 

1. From Zotero.org, login and click on your name in the top menu, then choose Settings. 
2. Choose Account. 
3. Under Manage Email Addresses, add an additional email address (you’ll probably need to go through a verification process), then set it as your primary email address.

1. Log into your Zotero cloud account. 
2. Under Settings, choose the Storage menu option. 
3. The Current Usage section will outline the storage amount that each of your libraries (including any group libraries) currently uses. If your total storage amount exceeds or is close to 300MB, make a plan for storage limits.

While at Harvard, you have unlimited cloud storage (at zotero.org) for your Zotero library. However, at some point within the year after leaving Harvard, your cloud storage limit will revert to 300MB (it’s unclear exactly when this will happen). There are a few ways around this limitation:

• Turn off file syncing 
• Sync to a cloud storage account such as Dropbox or GoogleDrive
• Buy storage from Zotero

Turn off file syncing

If you only need to access your Zotero library on your computer, you don’t need to sync to the cloud. If you have been using file syncing, use the syncing button in Zotero (consult screenshot below) to make sure all your files are synced.

Then, deselect the File Syncing options in Settings (consult the screenshot below) and save everything on your hard drive instead.

Sync to a cloud storage account such as Dropbox or GoogleDrive

If you need to be able to access your Zotero library from multiple devices and you already use another syncing service such as Dropbox or OneDrive, you can choose to have your PDFs save to that syncing service rather than to the Zotero cloud:

1. Create a folder called “Zotero” in your separate syncing service to save the PDFs into. 
2. Install ZotMoov, a plugin for Zotero.
3. Once ZotMoov is installed, it should appear as a separate section within Zotero Settings. Open Zotero Settings. 
4. Under the ZotMoov settings section, choose the directory to move files to, using the "Choose Directory" button. Then navigate to the “Zotero” folder in your separate syncing service.

Note: The above will only work to save PDFs into the syncing service going forward. However, it may be possible to save the current PDFs in your library into the syncing service:

• Select all relevant items;
• Use control/right-click to create a menu of options;
• Choose “ZotMoov: Move Selected to Directory” from the menu (ZotMoov needs to be installed for this option to appear in Zotero.);

IMPORTANT! Do not save Zotero (the application), or its complete data directory, into a syncing service such as Dropbox or OneDrive, as this is likely to lead to corruption of the data in Zotero. Only attachments, such as PDFs, should be saved into a separate syncing service.

Buy storage from Zotero

If you need to be able to access your Zotero library from multiple devices and you do not have a separate syncing service you want to use, you can choose to pay Zotero for additional cloud storage.

If you’re moving to a new academic institution:

1. Ask a librarian if they have a Zotero institutional subscription for continued unlimited cloud storage. If so, make your new email address at that institution your primary one in Zotero. This will activate unlimited cloud storage at your new institution.
2. Find out if they have an OpenURL resolver to replace the Harvard one (this is the link that allows you to try to find access to full text through Harvard subscriptions). You can find this under Zotero Settings (on a Mac, under the Zotero menu; on a Windows machine, under the Edit menu), then the General section. Use the dropdown Resolve menu to find the geographic region of your new institution, then the name of your institution.