possible to transfer personal or group web zotero items to desktop zotero?

midnightmind

Is it possible to transfer personal or group web zotero items to desktop zotero? I share a web zotero group with a colleague who lost his zotero files during a desktop crash & repair. We are wondering if it is possible for him to 'download' his previously synced items from our web group or his personal web account back into this new zotero desktop app (or are the previously synced items just 'trapped' in his web account?). I hope this makes sense. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

fcheslack

If he has been successfully syncing his data, he should simply need to put his username and password into his fresh zotero install and sync. Anything that shows up in his personal library on the website should be downloaded when he syncs, as should the items from groups he belongs to.

midnightmind

Right, that's what I thought and what I tried when helping him get things set up again, but after logging in and syncing, nothing showed up.

dstillman

I'm not sure what you mean by "logging in"—if you're referring to the website, that has no bearing on the installed Zotero client—but he needs to enter his username and password in the Sync pane of the Zotero preferences and then sync.

If for some reason that's not working, he can try "Restore from Zotero Server" in the Sync->Reset pane, but that shouldn't be necessary unless this is something more complicated than a completely fresh install.