In case you are not aware, Zotero is an excellent free and open-source reference manager. It has extensions for most browsers and integations with Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, Google Docs and Overleaf.

This guide walks you through setting up WebDAV syncing for Zotero with Nextcloud. This allows you to sync your Zotero attachments (PDFs, etc.) with your Nextcloud instance, providing a seamless experience across devices. Specifically, this guide focues on Zotero 7. Some previous approaches such as ZotFile or ZotMoov used “Linked Files” which is not recommended by the developers.

In theory any WebDAV server should work, but this guide is specifically for Nextcloud. Hetzner Storage Share works well or alternatively you can use a self-hosted Nextcloud instance which will be the topic of a future post.

Prerequisites

A working Nextcloud instance with WebDAV enabled.
Zotero 7 installed on your computer.
(Optional) Zoo for Zotero installed on an Android device.

Nextcloud Setup

Open the Nextcloud web interface and navigate to the “Files” page. From here open the “Files settings” menu (Bottom left), at the bottom you should see your WebDAV URL. Keep a note of this URL as you will need it later.

Zotero Setup

On the top menu bar, click on “Edit” and then “Settings”. In the settings window, navigate to the “Sync” tab.

In the “Data Syncing” section, make sure you are logged into your Zotero account. This will sync the Zotero library metadata to your account.

In the “File Syncing” section, make sure the “Sync attachments in My Library using” box is checked and select “WebDAV” from the dropdown menu. When “Zotero” is selected, your attachments will be synced to the Zotero server. Accounts get 300MB of free storage, but you can pay for more. Selecting “WebDAV” lets you use any WebDAV server, including Nextcloud. With Nextcloud, you can host your own server for free or pay for a managed server which has a similar cost to Zotero, however you get more storage and it can be used for other things.

Enter the WebDAV URL you noted earlier into the “Server URL” field. Then enter your Nextcloud username and password into the “Username” and “Password” fields and click “Verify Server”.

(Optional) Zoo for Zotero Setup

Those with iOS devices have access to an official Zotero app which you should have a similar setup process and an official Android app is in the works. Until then, Zoo for Zotero is the best option for Android users.

In order to setup WebDAV syncing in Zoo for Zotero, open the app and navigate to the “Settings” page. Scroll down to the “WebDAV” section and enable “Use webdav to access attachments” then press “Configure Webdav”. Enter the same WebDAV URL you used in Zotero and your Nextcloud username and password. Scroll down and press “SAVE AND CONNECT”. If successful, you should see a message saying “Successfully added WebDAV.”.

Note: To see the “Configure Webdav” you may need to set your phone to light mode.

Extra Notes

If you have a lot of attachments, the initial sync may take some time.
Annotations that you make in Zotero will be synced but will not be visible in Zoo for Zotero. I am not certain if this is the case for the official iOS app or will be the case for the official Android app.
If you make annotations to the PDF in Zoo for Zotero and write them back to the file, Zoo for Zotero will prompt you to upload the file which will then be synced to Zotero and visible in the desktop app.
If you are using a newish Boox device and are using Zotero to sync attachments, you can use the Zotero integration to sync your library with the Boox library by adding your account in the “Cloud” section of the settings. Alternatively, the Zoo for Zotero and Nextcloud flow works well.