Lost all data after Zotero Update?!

Kathrink3

Hi dear Zotero community,

be patient with me. I'm not a frequent forum user, yet trying to stick to the guidelines.

Problem: I updated Zotero and since then, I lost all my entries (research added in the last 10 years). Is that possible?

- I have been using the Chrome Zotero Connector in the past - so the data should be somewhere right?
- My first thought was that I logged in with the wrong account. Since I was switching affiliations multiple times, I have multiple accounts (at least two) linked to different email addresses. Yet, with none of the two accounts I'm aware of, I can find my database.

Thank you for your help!

aborel

If you are still using the same username on the same machine, probably the new Zotero version lost the path to your existing data for some reason. The data should still be on your drive somewhere nearby (although I don't think the Connector has anything to do with it).
To see where Zotero is looking for the data right now:
https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data#locating_your_zotero_data
To find possible locations for the previous data:
- search for files named zotero.sqlite

If you find zotero.sqlite in other folders than the currently active one, that's where your existing data could be. Set this in the Zotero preferences and I expect you will have all of your data available again.

Kathrink3

Thank you; I checked where Zotero is looking for the data right now. As a macuser it is in the default setting: /Users//Zotero

When searching for the zotero.sqlite, it is in that folder and in now other folder.

So, I believe this won't help me.

dstillman

An update wouldn't affect your data in any way.

In general, see Locating Missing Zotero Data — the most likely cause is trying to clear disk space on your computer using some tool and accidentally deleting the Zotero database. If you're not sure, provide the info requested in that section.

My first thought was that I logged in with the wrong account. Since I was switching affiliations multiple times, I have multiple accounts (at least two) linked to different email addresses.

I'm not totally sure what you mean here. Are you talking about the website? Logging into the website doesn't have anything to do with your local Zotero data.

dstillman

@Kathrink3: I noticed that you posted on Twitter asking for help and saying that you didn't receive helpful suggestions here. I'm not sure why you're saying that — I linked to explicit instructions on recovering from this and providing more info if you're still having trouble. No one's going to be able to help you better than we can here, but if you want our help, you'll need to provide the info we ask for.

Again, though, the most likely cause is that you ran something to clear disk space and deleted your database by mistake, in which case you may just not have the data anymore, and if you weren't syncing or making backups, there wouldn't be any magical solution here to recover your data. But if you provide what we ask for we can help you determine whether that's the case.

agam2222

I would suggest using everything from voidtools to search for zotero.sqlite. In case of having multiple emails and accounts, it is possible to have multiple zotero.sqlite files related to different profiles. The largest one would usually be the main library.