Problems syncing from one of my computers to the online library

KathieBailey

Report ID: 2036589002
I'm having trouble with syncing on one of my computers to the online library - I've done some work at finding the problem, and my files from one computer will sync, but not from my laptop. This is only one of the problems I have been having. I've started using a different computer to import because on my main computer, zotero keeps crashing, won't sync, etc. I was also unable to use the debug function after doing a sync. Zotero froze when I did. But I was able to get the following after start up:



[JavaScript Error: "The connection to wss://stream.zotero.org/ has terminated unexpectedly. Some data may have been transferred."]

[JavaScript Error: "WebSocket connection closed: 1006 "]

[JavaScript Error: "Component returned failure code: 0x80470002 (NS_BASE_STREAM_CLOSED) [nsIConverterOutputStream.writeString]" {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/server.js" line: 603}]

[JavaScript Error: "Component returned failure code: 0x80470002 (NS_BASE_STREAM_CLOSED) [nsIConverterOutputStream.writeString]" {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/server.js" line: 603}]

[JavaScript Error: "NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Failure arg 0 [mozIStorageResultSet.getNextRow]" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm" line: 768}]

[JavaScript Error: "Failure arg 1 [mozIStorageAsyncConnection.createAsyncStatement]" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm" line: 506}]

[JavaScript Error: "Failure arg 1 [mozIStorageAsyncConnection.createAsyncStatement]" {file: "resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm" line: 474}]

version => 6.0.22, platform => Win32, oscpu => Windows NT 10.0; WOW64, locale => en-US, appName => Zotero, appVersion => 6.0.22, extensions => Zotero LibreOffice Integration (6.0.4.SA.6.0.22, extension), Zotero Word for Windows Integration (6.0.2.SA.6.0.22, extension)

dstillman

For general problems with file syncing, see Files Not Syncing.

But you're getting some weird errors there. If you're having other problems, can you Can you provide a Debug ID for Zotero startup through reproducing those errors, using the "Restart with Logging Enabled…" option?

KathieBailey

D818822041

dstillman

You didn't engage with what I said, though — you just submitted a Debug ID in the middle of a sync attempt where nothing appears to have yet gone wrong.

KathieBailey

hmmm. Can I still send it again if it ever does finish syncing? Or do I need to start all over again? Right now it appears to be syncing and the debug output is still open

dstillman

If you mean that you have the View Output window open, you can send it if a problem occurs.

KathieBailey

I tried - Zotero stopped responding though, so I'm not sure if it sent? But the problem still persists - It's not syncing items from my computer to online.

dstillman

We need the Debug ID I asked for in order to help you. The instructions don’t say to use the View Output window.

KathieBailey

D818822041

dstillman

You just pasted the same Debug ID as above.

KathieBailey

Yes - I clicked on it again, when it finished syincing after you said "If you mean that you have the View Output window open, you can send it if a problem occurs." - so I tried to do that. The debug number didn't change, and as I mentioned, I don't know if it sent any more info though because Zotero stopped responding at the end of the sync.

I have since then tried to get a new debug number by using the Restart with Logging Enabled function again. But I can't seem to get it to send. When I clicked on help - it took about 20 minutes or so for the menu to display and then when I clicked again on the submit option nothing happened and eventually that menu disappeared - with no success. That was about a half an hour ago. So I tried to click on the menu again, and now it says Zotero is not responding (note: this happened before when I tried the Restart with Logging Enabled function and I let it completely sync). And just now, I see that there is a pop up Zotero window - I imagine it is the debug info window - but it too says not responding. Do I just wait it out and see if it responds eventually? We are at about 4-5 hours to get this far....

dstillman

When I clicked on help - it took about 20 minutes or so for the menu to display

There's something very strange going on your computer — this obviously isn't remotely normal. It's possible there's something else running that's slowing it way down. You can try restarting your computer.

What exactly happens when you just start up Zotero and let it auto-sync, without using the debug function?

KathieBailey

I did a hard boot this time instead of a soft boot and when I opened the app it said not responding - it loaded the total number of items in view. But then it started responding. When I hover over the sync icon (which is rotating) it says last sync was 2 days ago which isn't accurate. I stopped the sync and eventually it stopped. I tried to do the debug logging and then click on sync - it goes back and forth from syncing to not responding. Right now there are about 85,000 lines logged.

The only change that I have made on my computer while trying to get this library ready for my team is adding Forticlient to login to one of my institutions remotely. I only need it when I run SPSS? Would uninstalling it make sense?

Or should I uninstall Zotero and reinstall it? It's only my newest library that hasn't synced with my online library - there are alot of records in this new library (approx 87,000) but only 41 (out of about 70,000) of the ones imported using this computer synced to the online library. If I do, can I have one of my team members import the records to the library - would I still be the owner? They use free accounts but I pay for unlimited storage. And I'll want access much longer then them.

dstillman

(3)(+0000169): 174366 items to upload in library 3

Oh, so you imported a huge number of items onto this computer, and those items haven't yet been uploaded?

(3)(+0000451): 105374 item deletions to upload in […]

And it looks like you also perhaps ran the import more than once and then deleted some items, so there are also a huge number of deletion records to upload.

(3)(+0000001): Rendering tag selector

(3)(+0268922): Rendering tag list

It looks like there are also many, many tags — it's taking almost 5 minutes just to display the tag selector in the bottom left.

There are also 12K existing items in the online library that it needs to download.

So to start, collapse the tag selector, which should temporarily avoid some of the freezes you're seeing and speed up other operations.

Then make sure the trash is empty so it's not doing work it doesn't need to do.

It might also be interesting to go to Tools → Developer → Run JavaScript and run this:

return await Zotero.DB.valueQueryAsync("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM tags JOIN itemTags USING (tagID) JOIN items USING (itemID) WHERE libraryID=3")

That should show you how many tags are in the library.

If you don't need all of the tags, we could help you clear those before syncing. The tag selector may not be usable with the number of tags in the library, but let's see the number to start.

In any case, if you then wanted to sync, you could restart Zotero and just let the sync go, and with any luck it will finish. It might take quite a while with that many items to upload.

KathieBailey

I don't need the automatic tags - and there appears to be 2,617,866. The Delete automatic tags option isn't available to me.

I can see all of the items in my existing online library in the app though.

dstillman

Oh wow — OK, yes, that's the problem.

They're not technically automatic tags because they're from a file import. RIS/BibTeX/etc. don't have any sort of distinction between different tag types, so Zotero just imports them as regular tags.

You'd be OK just removing all of these tags? If so, we can give you code to do so.

KathieBailey

Yes - I can remove all of the tags. I'd like the code to do so, thank you.

KathieBailey

I'd like to revise the response - yes, I'd like to remove all of the tags - but only from that library. I need my tags in my other library. Can I do it so that it only impacts the one library?

dstillman

OK, select the items you want to remove all tags from, go to Tools → Developer → Run JavaScript, and run the following code:

var items = ZoteroPane.getSelectedItems();
for (let item of items) {
item.removeAllTags();
await item.saveTx({
skipDateModifiedUpdate: true
});
}

You might want to start with a small number of items so you can see it working.

Again, if you have items in the trash, you'll want to empty the trash as well.