Zotero integration: all users should be allowed to refresh Zotero (group) library imports
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- Dominant language
- JavaScript
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Description
Zotero group libraries are shared libraries that many teams use in collaboration. It's great if Overleaf supports them. Right now it doesn't really — only the user who originally added the group library is allowed to refresh it, which defeats the point of using group libraries in the first place.
Steps to Reproduce
- User 1 adds a Zotero group library through Add Files > From Zotero
- User 2 clicks on zotero.bib, hits 'Refresh' button
- "Access Denied: You are not the user who originally imported this file"
Expected Behaviour
Expected behaviour is that at step #2, Overleaf dutifully refreshes the bib file because it is a group library.
Observed Behaviour
What actually happens is an access denied error: "Access Denied: You are not the user who originally imported this file"
Context
Group libraries are shared libraries that multiple users contribute to and that Zotero syncs from multiple user accounts. For Overleaf to restrict refreshing them to just the user who happened to add it defeats the point of the group library.
Technical Info
The Zotero API is designed to enable this kind of use, so Overleaf is here imposing an arbitrary limitation. The issue is made for group libraries (for this is the use case that is most strongly affected), but one might argue that given the collaborative nature of Overleaf, refreshing any imported Zotero file (whether it is a personal or a group library) should be allowed by any user with rights to edit that document. After all refreshing is a harmless one-way import.
Analysis
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
No files or tests are named. Start by tracing the Add Files > From Zotero import and the Refresh action for zotero.bib, then locate the check that compares the current user with the original importer. Done means an editor can refresh a Zotero group-library import without the access-denied error, with regression coverage for the reported steps.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- javascript
- Domain
- api, authorization, backend
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100