Autosyncing often kicks in just a bit too soon (while adding/editing items, tags, notes)
One thing that annoys me about autosyncing is that it is triggered too soon, or too often, and that while running it locks up Firefox for anything between 2 to 30 seconds (sometimes more). Especially when writing a note or tagging a newly added item it is quite annoying to have Firefox become unresponsive just because Zotero is trying to sync that new piece of information.
Proposal: implement a longer delay before autosync hits in after (1) adding a new item; (2) adding a tag to an item (more tags will often be following); (3) adding a note to an item (note-editing will often be following); (4) editing a note.
(I recognize the potential problem of (4), as a user may have a note field active for a time that is much longer than he is actually editing it. This is why I recommend a longer delay before sync kicks in rather than putting off sync entirely until the note is no longer edited.)
A potential other cue to delay autosyncing would be keyboard input anywhere in the Zotero window, but I don't know whether there are potential downsides to that. It would certainly solve my common problem of adding-then-editing a note and having to wait for my keyboard input to show up because -sigh- Zotero is autosyncing the note already.
Proposal: implement a longer delay before autosync hits in after (1) adding a new item; (2) adding a tag to an item (more tags will often be following); (3) adding a note to an item (note-editing will often be following); (4) editing a note.
(I recognize the potential problem of (4), as a user may have a note field active for a time that is much longer than he is actually editing it. This is why I recommend a longer delay before sync kicks in rather than putting off sync entirely until the note is no longer edited.)
A potential other cue to delay autosyncing would be keyboard input anywhere in the Zotero window, but I don't know whether there are potential downsides to that. It would certainly solve my common problem of adding-then-editing a note and having to wait for my keyboard input to show up because -sigh- Zotero is autosyncing the note already.
I'm sure we can make it a bit smarter about waiting while there's activity, particularly in notes, but it sounds like the bigger problem is the delays you're experiencing during syncing. Most syncs should be instantaneous, such that you shouldn't even notice them while typing. If that's not the case for you, that's something we should look into.
Can you provide a Debug ID for an auto-sync that's accompanied by a delay?
What kind of computer are you running this on? Also, do you have your Zotero data directory on a local hard drive or on a network drive? I'm guessing the issue here is from file scans to detect modified files in your (large) library.
And my Z library is on the local harddisk so no network issue.