I cannot make Zotero work on my Mac

SofieOlsen
Hello,
I have tried redownloading Zotero a bunch, I have now figured that it will not fix my problem.
I keep getting this message when opening up the program:

"The Zotero database cannot be opened.

Make sure you have read and write permissions for all files in the Zotero data directory and that security software isn’t preventing Zotero from accessing that directory.

Data Directory: /Users/Profile/Zotero"

I have tried changing every major file and folder to read and write but it still gives me the message, can it really be true that I have to change every single file relating to Zotero, I Do not think that this solution seems right?

I hope someone can help me, thank you.
«1
  • dstillman
    Redownloading Zotero won't make any difference here. This a problem with the permissions of your Zotero data directory. It really just means what it says — Zotero can't read or write to either the zotero.sqlite file or the parent data directory itself.

    This would pretty much never happen for a new installation. You'd have to have transferred Zotero files from another computer (generally not using Migration Assistant, which tends to get this right) or otherwise changed the permissions, including perhaps for some old installation of Zotero. Regardless, the Zotero data directory and all folders and files within it need to be readable and writable by your current Mac user account. You can do that via File → Get Info in the Finder, but that's just a general macOS thing that we can't really help with.
  • SofieOlsen
    So I need to go in and change every file to read and write? there is a lot of files...
    Thank you for the response though
  • dstillman
    No, there's an option to apply it to all enclosed items.
  • SofieOlsen
    I have tried doing so now and it still does not work, aka I still get that message.
    Thank you so much for your help, I just do not know what to do now
  • dstillman
    Can you open Terminal via Spotlight, paste this command, press Return, and let us know the result?

    ls -la ~/Zotero
  • SofieOlsen
    total 14712
    drwxr-xr-x 9 root wheel 288 7 Feb 16:54 .
    drwxr-xr-x+ 21 sofie staff 672 12 Apr 10:37 ..
    drwxr-xr-x 5 root wheel 160 7 Feb 16:54 locate
    drwxr-xr-x 40 root wheel 1280 7 Feb 16:54 storage
    drwxr-xr-x 17 root wheel 544 7 Feb 16:54 styles
    drwxr-xr-x 716 root wheel 22912 7 Feb 16:55 translators
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 2510848 7 Feb 16:54 zotero.sqlite
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 2510848 7 Feb 16:54 zotero.sqlite.1.bak
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 2510848 7 Feb 16:54 zotero.sqlite.bak

    This is what I then get in the terminal
  • dstillman
    edited April 12, 2024
    Yeah, so you didn't actually fix this via Finder. Everything in the above list should say "sophie staff", not "root wheel". You need to do a Get Info on the Zotero folder in Finder, unlock it at the bottom, click your name, select "Make [me] the owner" from the menu, set it so that your user account has "Read & Write" privileges, and then select "Apply to enclosed items…".
  • SofieOlsen
    I cannot press the "make me the owner" button, do you know what the reason might be? or how I can get help with it?
  • dstillman
    You need to unlock in the bottom right first.
  • SofieOlsen
    I did so, but I can still not press the button to make me the owner, it is there but in a light grey and not something I can press
  • dstillman
    edited April 12, 2024
    Can you set yourself to "Read & Write" and then select "Apply to selected items…"?

    (But how did these files get on this computer? If someone did this for you, you should really get them to help you, since they did this incorrectly. If you actually used Migration Assistant, it would be very surprising that the files ended up like this. We really can't provide general OS usage guidance here.)
  • SofieOlsen
    I have tried what you say here, I have downloaded the program from your website, onto my computer.
  • dstillman
    If you can't manage to do it via Get Info, you can also go back to Terminal and run this:

    sudo chown -R sofie:staff ~/Zotero

    You'll need to type your password, which won't appear on screen as you type it. But that should fix this folder. Anything else copied at the same time back in February might be similarly broken, though.
  • dstillman
    edited April 12, 2024
    I have tried what you say here, I have downloaded the program from your website, onto my computer.
    I'm not sure what you mean by that. Again, this has nothing to do with just downloading the program. You can see the dates on these files — they're from February 7th. Whoever or whatever copied them to this computer did so incorrectly. It doesn't have anything to do with Zotero itself.
  • SofieOlsen
    It works now, thank you!!!
  • sc25462
    Hi I'm having the exact same issue, but when I run the terminal command I get a different result. Just like SofieOlsen, I can't select make me the owner because it's greyed out.
  • adamsmith
    to be clear, the sofie:staff part of the command would need to be customized to correspond to your standard user.
  • sc25462
    Oh i see, can you help me fix this issue? I don't know what to do because the make me owner command is greyed out. I'm getting the same database cannot be opened error message anytime I try to open the Zotero app.
  • adamsmith
    Post the output of
    ls -la ~/Zotero
  • sc25462
    total 25832
    drwxr-xr-x 10 root wheel 320 Nov 27 2023 .
    drwxr-xr-x+ 22 steph staff 704 May 28 07:58 ..
    drwxr-xr-x 5 root wheel 160 Nov 27 2023 locate
    drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 96 Nov 27 2023 logs
    drwxr-xr-x 53 root wheel 1696 Nov 27 2023 storage
    drwxr-xr-x 17 root wheel 544 Nov 27 2023 styles
    drwxr-xr-x 701 root wheel 22432 Nov 27 2023 translators
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 4411392 Nov 27 2023 zotero.sqlite
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 4403200 Nov 27 2023 zotero.sqlite.1.bak
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 4411392 Nov 27 2023 zotero.sqlite.bak


  • adamsmith
    Try
    sudo chown -R steph:staff ~/Zotero
  • sc25462
    there's no output

  • adamsmith
    you're saying it doesn't even ask for a password? At that point you'll just need to get help from someone who can look at your Mac -- fixing permission is only implicitly related to Zotero; we can only do so much to fix that.
  • sc25462
    it asks for a password but once i input the password it just outputs the name of my computer which is where terminal started
  • adamsmith
    And if you run the ls command again it looks the same?
  • sc25462
    Yes, is there something else I should try? I've tried that one multiple times
  • aborel
    edited May 28, 2024
    Please post the exact output of

    ls -la ~/Zotero

    now that you have run

    sudo chown -R steph:staff ~/Zotero
  • sc25462
    total 25832
    drwxr-xr-x 10 steph staff 320 Nov 27 2023 .
    drwxr-xr-x+ 22 steph staff 704 May 28 11:29 ..
    drwxr-xr-x 5 steph staff 160 Nov 27 2023 locate
    drwxr-xr-x 3 steph staff 96 Nov 27 2023 logs
    drwxr-xr-x 53 steph staff 1696 Nov 27 2023 storage
    drwxr-xr-x 17 steph staff 544 Nov 27 2023 styles
    drwxr-xr-x 701 steph staff 22432 Nov 27 2023 translators
    -rw-r--r-- 1 steph staff 4411392 Nov 27 2023 zotero.sqlite
    -rw-r--r-- 1 steph staff 4403200 Nov 27 2023 zotero.sqlite.1.bak
    -rw-r--r-- 1 steph staff 4411392 Nov 27 2023 zotero.sqlite.bak
    steph@stephs-laptop ~ %


  • aborel
    edited May 28, 2024
    OK, so the sudo chown command has worked (all files and directories belong to steph:staff), that's good. Can you start Zotero now?
  • sc25462
    omg it works now! Thank you so so much!!!!
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