Zotero Performance Issues: Persistent Loading and Lag

Ted.Lee · 2025-02-28T13:22:23+00:00

Zotero ID: 1502124355

**Issue Description:**
I’ve been experiencing intermittent performance issues with Zotero, where it becomes slow and unresponsive, often stuck on "Loading..." indefinitely. This happens even after I’ve disabled all plugins, which was one of the initial troubleshooting steps I took. Additionally, I’ve already disabled automatic syncing based on online recommendations, but the problem persists.

My Zotero library is stored entirely in the cloud, and I’m wondering if the size or volume of my cloud-stored files could be contributing to the lag. Could this be a potential cause?

**Steps Taken So Far:**

Disabled all plugins.
Turned off automatic syncing.

**Questions:**

What could be causing Zotero to remain stuck on "Loading..." even after disabling plugins and syncing?
Could the size or number of files stored in the cloud be a factor in the performance issues?
Are there any other troubleshooting steps or settings I should try?

Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

adamsmith · 2025-02-28T14:14:22+00:00

What do you mean by "My Zotero library is stored entirely in the cloud"? Just that you're syncing with Zotero?

Ted.Lee · 2025-02-28T14:29:13+00:00

Yes, that's exactly what I meant. I am syncing through Zotero.

dstillman · 2025-02-28T14:38:45+00:00

Can you provide a Debug ID for Zotero startup, using the "Restart with Logging Enabled…" option?

Ted.Lee · 2025-02-28T15:22:12+00:00

The ID is 436135712. Thank you very much for your patience and help!

adamsmith · 2025-02-28T15:24:35+00:00

(That looks like a report ID, not a debug ID -- "Debug ID" in dstillman's post is linked to instructions)

Ted.Lee · 2025-02-28T15:34:21+00:00

I’m sorry, I mixed them up. The Debug ID is D91507671.

dstillman · 2025-03-01T03:55:54+00:00

That's not a Debug ID for Zotero startup.

Ted.Lee · 2025-03-02T13:30:32+00:00

I actually tried to follow your advice and provide a Debug ID for Zotero startup, but then I couldn't even restart Zotero. Later, I tried downgrading to an earlier version of Zotero7, and found that those problems were resolved. So, these issues might be due to incompatibility between the latest version and my computer. Thank you again for your help.

dstillman · 2025-03-02T13:40:24+00:00

That's very unlikely, and if it is the case we're want to determine that for sure. You should reinstall the latest version and provide a Debug ID. If "Restart with Logging Enabled…" isn't working for some reason, see Reporting Startup Errors.

Ted.Lee · 2025-03-02T13:54:16+00:00

To solve this problem, I reinstalled the latest version of Zotero, but strangely, there have been no issues so far. In this case, should I wait until a problem occurs before reporting it?

dstillman · 2025-03-02T16:10:18+00:00

Yes.

Ted.Lee · 2025-03-06T01:20:10+00:00

Report ID in "Report errors": 145042151
Debug ID: D344511950

Hello, the issue has occurred again! After opening Zotero, I cannot load the files under the folders. This time, I will try to provide screenshots to explain the situation I encountered, hoping to make it clearer.

1. The issue I encountered – the relevant screenshots are attached below.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u8708602/9jngroboh7b3vy5yfein.png

2. Actions I've tried so far:

1) Disabled all plugins.

2) Submitted an error report via "Report errors", with report ID 145042151.

3) I clicked "Restart with Logging Enabled...", but Zotero didn’t automatically restart (I'm not sure if that's normal), so I manually reopened Zotero. I found that 1512 lines were logged, so I submitted the output. The debug ID is D344511950.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u8708602/gf3cb1665earj1jwrfby.png

Please let me know if this information is sufficient, and if there’s anything more I can do to help you understand the problem I’m facing. Thanks for your help!

Ted.Lee · 2025-03-06T01:32:15+00:00

I would like to add one more issue: After reopening Zotero, I found that I cannot right-click on entries or double-click to open the items. However, I can open them by clicking on the PDF attachment. The Debug ID is D189315319.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u8708602/0ubt2id15yh97foxa1yb.png

dstillman · 2025-03-06T02:41:30+00:00

What kind of disk is D:?

How big is the zotero.sqlite file in your data directory?

If it's an option, I'd be curious how much faster this is if you moved the data directory back to the default location on your main disk (assuming it's an SSD and D: is not). If you move the data directory back to C:\Users\[user]\Zotero (so that C:\Users\[user]\Zotero\zotero.sqlite exists) with Zotero closed, it should prompt you to use that folder when it starts up.

Ted.Lee · 2025-03-06T02:56:06+00:00

I’ve divided my computer’s SSD into several partitions, and D: is a separate partition I created from C: to store research data. Should I move it back to C:?

As for the zotero.sqlite file, it’s 2.32 GB. Is that too large? Should I clear some of the previously viewed references (if possible, it would be better not to delete them)

dstillman · 2025-03-06T02:59:57+00:00

OK, if D: is still the SSD, that's fine.

Don't delete anything or make any changes we don't recommend while we're debugging this.

Do you subscribe to some heavy-volume feeds using the built-in feed reader?

If you download https://sqlitebrowser.org/, open zotero.sqlite in that, and run VACUUM, does that reduce the size of the file? (That might take a while to run, and Zotero will need to be closed.) Let us know how long that takes and the size of the file after vacuuming, and whether that makes a difference to the startup speed.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18126997/how-to-vacuum-sqlite-database/76826970#76826970

Ted.Lee · 2025-03-06T03:03:35+00:00

Thank you! I’ll follow your suggested steps and try them out. If there’s any update, I’ll post it in the forum to keep you informed.

Ted.Lee · 2025-03-06T08:02:45+00:00

Hello, I tried running VACUUM to reduce the size of the file, and after compression, it shows 2.16 GB. After the compression, I did notice that the startup speed is indeed faster!

Additionally, I do subscribe to some heavy-volume feeds. Is this the main reason why Zotero is starting slowly? If so, I can unsubscribe from these feeds.

dstillman · 2025-03-06T14:35:29+00:00

Could you run these three separate statements in DB Browser and let us know the output?

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM itemDataValues;

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM items JOIN libraries USING (libraryID) WHERE type!='feed';

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM items JOIN libraries USING (libraryID) WHERE type='feed';

Ted.Lee · 2025-03-06T15:00:25+00:00

I’ve already executed the code, and here are the relevant results:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u8708602/9pj11iggpngxczgroy61.png

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u8708602/30ozwp4hx2blelnfm9nr.png

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u8708602/haidb86m5dholq3ux39a.png