This can happen for a few different reasons:
- Check the General settings under Preferences to make sure the box next to Automatically attach associated PDFs and other files when saving items is checked.
- Look to see if you are using an article citation aggregator as opposed to a database that actually contains the full text for articles. Google Scholar and HOLLIS are examples of aggregators. When using an aggregator, PDFs do not always get automatically attached.
- Does the database you are using require an extra step to get to the PDF? An example is the Taylor & Francis platform which requires users to choose between a regular PDF and an interactive PDF.
If Zotero is not able to grab a pdf, you can always download the pdf yourself and drag and drop it on the item's information within Zotero.
