Zotero Attanger

Attanger (Attachment Manager) organizes Zotero attachments: attach recent downloads, match files to items, rename them with Zotero's native templates, and move or copy them into a predictable folder structure.

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Features

• Attach the most recently modified file from a configured source directory to one Zotero item or directly to a collection.
• Store attachments in Zotero or convert imported files to linked files in an external destination directory.
• Rename one or many attachments with Zotero's file-renaming template and, optionally, keep the attachment title in sync.
• Optionally convert diacritics and ligatures in generated filenames to ASCII equivalents for broader filesystem and tool compatibility.
• Build destination subfolders from item metadata or {{collection}}, with optional /-delimited nested folders.
• Automatically rename and organize newly imported attachments.
• Optionally rename linked attachments after item metadata changes. Debounce and delay controls make this useful with Better BibTeX citation keys and other metadata that settles after import.
• Match PDF/CAJ files to selected items by title similarity, optionally using a title extracted from the PDF.
• Precisely reconnect files that already follow Attanger's expected folder and filename pattern.
• Move or copy existing attachments while preserving annotations, relations, full-text indexes, tags, and attachment notes during linked-file conversion.
• Open selected attachments with Zotero, the system default, or remembered custom applications.
• Customize shortcuts, supported extensions, cleanup behavior, and regular expression rules for rename/move exceptions.

Install

1. Download the latest .xpi from the Releases page.
2. In Zotero, open Tools > Plugins (or Tools > Add-ons on older versions).
3. Open the gear menu, choose Install Plugin From File, and select the downloaded .xpi.
4. Restart Zotero if prompted.

The current manifest supports Zotero 7 through Zotero 10.

Initial Setup

Open Zotero Settings > Attanger and configure:

1. Source path: the folder where browsers, scanners, or other tools place newly downloaded files.
2. Attach type:
   • Choose Stored Copy when using Zotero Storage or WebDAV.
   • Choose Link when files are synchronized by another service such as OneDrive, Dropbox, or Nutstore.
3. When using Link, set a Destination path and keep Automatically move added attachments enabled if imported files should be converted automatically.
4. Set the optional Subfolder template. The default {{collection}} follows the selected item's collection hierarchy.
5. Use Customize Filename Format to edit Zotero's native file-renaming template. See the Zotero file-renaming documentation.
6. Review the automation, file type, shortcut, and safety settings before a large batch operation.

Linked files are not uploaded by Zotero file sync. The destination directory must be backed up or synchronized separately.

Common Workflows

Attach the Latest Download

1. Save or download a file into the configured source directory.
2. Select exactly one regular Zotero item.
3. Right-click and choose Attanger > Attach New File, or press Ctrl + I.

Attanger selects the most recently modified non-hidden file. You can also right-click a collection and choose Attach New File to create a top-level attachment in that collection. Unless Keep original files is enabled, the source file is removed after a successful import.

Match Files to Multiple Items

1. Put PDF or CAJ files directly in the source directory.
2. Select one or more regular Zotero items.
3. Choose Attanger > Match Attachment.

Each source file is used at most once. Matching compares item titles with file names and can also inspect PDF metadata/text according to Read title from PDF file. Matched files are imported and then follow the configured automatic rename/move behavior.

Reconnect an Existing Attanger Library

Use Attanger > Match Attanger Attachment when files already follow this layout:

Source path / rendered subfolder / Zotero-generated filename.extension

For each selected item, Attanger checks the configured extension list and adds matching files as linked attachments without copying them.

Rename, Move, or Copy Existing Attachments

Select regular items, child attachments, or top-level attachments, then use:

• Rename Attachment to apply Zotero's filename template.
• Move Attachment to place files under the destination path.
• Rename and Move Attachment to perform both operations.
• Undo Move Attachment to use Zotero's linked-file-to-stored-file conversion.

When Keep original files is enabled, menu labels change from Move to Copy and source files are retained. Moving requires Attach type: Link. Different files that target the same path receive a suffix; identical destination files are not copied again.

Rename After Better BibTeX Updates

When a filename template contains a Better BibTeX citation key or another field that is populated after import:

1. Disable Automatically rename added attachments if add-time renaming runs too early.
2. Enable Automatically rename linked attachments when items change.
3. Keep the default debounce (1000 ms) or increase the optional delay if the metadata provider performs several updates.

This workflow only processes existing, supported linked files. Repeated item events are deduplicated, and Attanger's own saves do not trigger a rename loop.

Settings Reference

Setting	Behavior
Source path	Input directory for Attach New File and both matching commands.
Attach type	Stored Zotero copy, or linked file managed under the destination path.
Destination path	Root directory used by move/copy operations in Link mode.
Subfolder	Metadata template for directories; {{collection}} uses the collection path.
Parse / as subfolders	Preserves slash-separated levels generated by template variables.
Automatically rename added attachments	Uses Zotero's global add-time file-renaming preference.
Rename linked attachments when items change	Opt-in post-edit rename flow, with debounce and delay in milliseconds.
Automatically move added attachments	Converts newly imported attachments to linked files in Link mode. Existing linked attachments are never moved again automatically.
Automatically delete empty folders	Removes empty directories only inside Zotero storage, the source root, or the destination root.
Keep original files	Changes move operations to copy behavior and prevents source cleanup.
Sync attachment title	Updates the Zotero attachment title after a filename change.
Remove filename diacritics	Converts diacritics and ligatures in the final generated base name, including a retained original-name prefix; keeps the extension.
File types	Comma-separated extensions, without leading dots. Default: pdf,doc,docx,txt,rtf,djvu,epub.
Filename rules	Comma-separated regular expressions for prefix preservation, rename skipping, or automatic move/rename skipping.

Invalid regular expressions are ignored and written to the debug log rather than interrupting attachment processing.

Shortcuts

Shortcuts are editable in Attanger settings and take effect immediately.

Action	Default	Enabled by default
Attach New File	Ctrl + I	Yes
Match Attachment	Ctrl + M	Yes
Rename Attachment	Ctrl + R	No
Rename and Move/Copy	Ctrl + Shift + R	No
Move/Copy Attachment	Ctrl + Shift + M	No

Screenshots and Guides

• Video demonstration (Chinese)
• Community guide (French)

Contributing

Issues, fixes, new features, tests, documentation, and translations are all welcome. Small, focused pull requests are easier to review and safer to ship.

When reporting a bug, include the Zotero and Attanger versions, operating system, attach type, relevant settings, exact reproduction steps, and debug output. Remove private bibliographic data and local paths before posting logs.

To work on the plugin:

git clone https://github.com/MuiseDestiny/zotero-attanger.git
cd zotero-attanger
npm install
cp scripts/zotero-cmd-template.json scripts/zotero-cmd.json
# Edit scripts/zotero-cmd.json to use a dedicated Zotero test profile
npm start

Before opening a pull request:

npm run build
# Run ESLint on the TypeScript files you changed, for example:
npx eslint src/modules/menu.ts

The production XPI is written to build/zotero-attanger.xpi. Development uses hot reload for changes under src/ and addon/.

AI-Assisted Contributions Are Welcome

You may use AI tools for implementation, debugging, tests, documentation, or translation. AI use is not a reason to reject a contribution. The contributor is still responsible for the submitted result:

• Review and understand generated changes before submitting them.
• Test the affected workflows and report what was actually verified.
• Keep changes scoped; do not include unrelated generated rewrites.
• Do not send private libraries, logs, credentials, or copyrighted documents to an AI service without permission.
• Confirm that generated code and assets are compatible with this project's license and dependency policies.
• Briefly disclose material AI assistance in the pull request when it helps reviewers understand how the change was produced or validated.

Translations live in addon/locale/; user documentation translations live in doc/. Please keep keys and behavior descriptions aligned across languages.

License and Credits

Zotero Attanger is licensed under AGPL-3.0-or-later. It draws significant inspiration from the ZotFile attachment workflow and is built with the Zotero Plugin Template and zotero-plugin-toolkit.