Rename PDF Attachments in Zotero 7

When you save a paper to Zotero, the PDF often arrives with a name that tells you nothing, like 'download.pdf', '1-s2.0-S0010.pdf', or a long string of numbers from a publisher's server. Zotero 7 fixes this by renaming attachment files from the metadata of the parent item. A file becomes something like 'Smith et al. - 2023 - Neural correlates of memory consolidation.pdf', which you can read in your file system, in search results, and when you share it with collaborators.

In earlier versions of Zotero, renaming was limited, and many researchers used the ZotFile plugin to control filename patterns. Zotero 7 moved that capability into the core application with a template-based filename format, and ZotFile is not compatible with Zotero 7. For most people, the built-in feature now covers what they used a plugin for.

Consistent attachment names matter for file organization because they keep your library usable outside Zotero. When you browse your storage folder, sync files to another tool, back up your research, or hand a folder of PDFs to a co-author, descriptive names mean each file identifies itself without needing the database.

Zotero 7 renames files automatically when you add a PDF or ebook as a child attachment of an item that has metadata. You can find the options under Settings (Preferences on older macOS versions) > General > File Renaming. From there you can turn automatic renaming on or off, choose whether it also applies to linked files, and select Customize Filename Format to edit the template.

The template uses variables in double curly braces, such as {{ firstCreator }}, {{ year }}, and {{ title }}, with optional parameters like suffix, prefix, truncate, and case. The default format produces author, year, and title separated by hyphens, with the title shortened to keep filenames manageable. You can also write conditional logic, for example using a different pattern for books than for journal articles. A preview in the settings pane shows how the current template will name the selected item.

For attachments that are already in your library, right-click an attachment and choose Rename File from Parent Metadata. If you change the filename template, Zotero can offer to rename existing files to match the new format. Zotero tracks each file through its database, so renaming inside Zotero keeps attachment links intact. PDFs that live outside Zotero, such as a downloads folder or an archive of older papers, need a different approach. Sortio can rename those files from a natural language prompt before or instead of importing them.