How should the Zotero Logseq plug-in handle sync for information that can be updated in either Zotero or Logseq? (continuation of discussion started on Discord here).
It is common for items in Zotero to change their information or metadata. Sometimes this means adding data to an otherwise empty field, and sometimes it is changing existing data, and sometimes it is changing info connected to attached files, such as adding annotations to pdfs attached to Zotero items.
In the Zotero-Roam plugin that is the model for the Zotero-Logseq plugin, item metadata is imported manually from within Roam and a new copy is added to previous imports every time. So to update metadata, the user has to reimport the new metadata and delete the old metadata.
This is ok, but not ideal. So here are possible things the Zotero-Logseq plugin might do, and I’m not sure what is technically possible.
One-way Zotero to Logseq import:
- (current) manual import, nothing removed
- automatically delete and replace all existing metadata in Logseq (could be only when run manually or could be run automatically)
- compare metadata and update/change only changed metadata (manual or automatic)
- note: not sure if individual annotations taken on pdfs from within Zotero (using the new beta pdf viewer) need to be treated differently than other metadata
Two-way Zotero-Logseq import:
- is it possible or desirable to have changes to item metadata in Logseq written to items in the Zotero database?
Hopefully others will add their thoughts, especially if they have more technical knowledge of what can be done and how.