Deletion of a profile (warning)

frln

Suppose you create a new profile and ask to store it in a directory that is not the default directory. Suppose you save additional files in this directory. Because it is the directory where you also save you attached pdf etc. Suppose you later ask to delete the profile, the attached files will also be deleted !!!

It would be better if the directory dedicated to the profile is a directory on its own. It would also be better if it is very clearly advertised in the deletion process that everything and not only the files generated to create the profile that will be deleted;

dstillman

There's some sort of confusion here. A profile just stores settings. (It's based on the Firefox profile system.) It doesn't store Zotero library data.

frln

Thank you for your answer.

No there is no confusion. Zotero allows to store a profile in a directory of your choice. Let's say the directory A. Unfortunately if you ask later to delete the profile, it will delete all the files or subdirectories in the directory A, including the files and directories that are not settings belonging to the profile. It can happen because a beginner doesn't completely understand where things must go and what they are for and she or he can choose to store other things than the data related to the profile and generated by Zotero in the directory dedicated to the named profile (here the directory A).

Hoping it is more clear.

dstillman

I mean, the confusion is that you shouldn't be storing anything within the profile folder (if that's actually what you're referring to). That's a settings folder managed entirely by Zotero via the Profile Manager and stored by default within the system app-data directory.

Again, this is just the Firefox profile system — it's not even our code. The only place this is even described is in the Multiple Profiles documentation, which says this:

This is an advanced configuration and not recommended for most users, but if you're familiar with using multiple profiles in Firefox, Zotero works the same way and supports the same command-line flags.

This is not remotely applicable to a "beginner".

frln

"I mean, the confusion is that you shouldn't be storing anything within the profile folder (if that's actually what you're referring to). That's a settings folder managed entirely by Zotero via the Profile Manager and stored by default within the system app-data directory."

Ah! ok. But you know beginners always do "silly" thing. You should add -- in the screen where the beginner requires the deletion of the profile -- that if something else than the profile settings has been put in the directory (or folder) it should be removed a once, or the deletion process should be stopped immediatly . Simple warning to add.

"This is not remotely applicable to a "beginner". "

Sure but beginners are always where they are not supposed to be. At least me.

frln

correction: "removed at once"

dstillman

Again, this is just a dialog from the underlying Firefox platform — we don't modify it. And you wouldn't be seeing it unless you read the documentation page where we say it's "an advanced configuration not recommended for most users". If you ignored that, I'm afraid we can't help you.

frln

OK; Thank you.

dstillman

Also, the dialog does actually make this clear. You have to specifically go out of your way to delete files.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u6/9zer6zke7kbm7d00vwo6.png

frln

"Also, the dialog does actually make this clear."

Frankly, it can be made clearer. I hadn't understood that everything will be destroyed even the files and directories not created by Zotero when it created the profile.

The warning speaks of "profile data", "settings", "certificates" and "other user-related data". We can honestly think it will only remove data related to the profile.

And the last question is "Would you like to delete the *profile* data files,". The peculiar mention "profile data files" is confusing in my opinion.

dstillman

It literally tells you the path of the folder it will delete. If you put anything else in that folder, obviously it would be deleted.

Again, you should not touch options that say they're for advanced users if you're not an advanced user.