Accidentally erased a collection and sub-collections - and I'm technophobe

HamutalSadan

Hi, I accidentally erased a collection and its sub-collections from Zotero. I checked, and they are not on the web library either (as my sync is on). Here is the picture of the Sqlite Files (not that I know what it means). I am too afraid to take any step, so I won't cause any more harm. Can someone please guide me step by step (and in very simple words) what I can do to restore the collection?
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u7142802/t718jtnta8dormdpt916.png

mjthoraval

In Zotero 7, the deleted collections can be restored from the trash:
https://www.zotero.org/blog/zotero-7/

dstillman

@HamutalSadan: But if you're not yet using Zotero 7, you may be able to restore from one of the automatic backups. Those are already step-by-step instructions, so you'd have to ask a more specific question if you don't understand something. Note the specific instructions for restoring collections.

Also note that the items would all be in your library root, even if you deleted a collection.

HamutalSadan

Thank you both!
How do I know what version I have? I tried to search but couldn't find the info

dstillman

Help → About Zotero

HamutalSadan

Ok so I couldn't find what version I had, so I updated to version 7, but the collection is not in the trash (as it was synched already with the web library). God, was it a mistake to update the version and now my collection is lost for good? Or there is anything I can still do to save it?

dstillman

I explained what you needed to do above. Upgrading wouldn't really make a difference, but waiting a few days might have. These are automatic backups that only last for a couple days and then get overwritten.

HamutalSadan

Okay I followed the instructions @dstillman sent me, but the collection was not restored (I see the timeline on the zotero.sqlite.bak file is already of today, i.e., not of the time before I erased the collection. Is there any way to restore the collection?

dstillman

There should be a zotero.sqlite.1.bak as well. You can check the timestamp on that.

But if all the backups are from after you did this, then no, I'm afraid there's no way to restore it, unless you have some other backup of your data.

Again, all the items would still be in the library — you didn't actually delete any items. And now that you've upgraded to Zotero 7, any future mistakes like this would just end up with the collection in the trash.

HamutalSadan

Thank you @dstillman.
The timestamp is today on all the files :(
Do you know whether the items in the library are also annotated and tagged, like the items I had in the collection? (like, are they literarily the same items, or is it a copy before all the changes I made on in item?)

dstillman

They're literally the same items.

https://www.zotero.org/support/collections_and_tags#the_zotero_collections_model

HamutalSadan

Thank you deeply!!