Zotero starts very slowly when downloading files on launch

pphuwasanti

Report ID 2126194897

I’m having an issue where Zotero starts up very slowly, especially when it begins downloading the stored files. Zotero's interface becomes white for almost a minute, and sometimes the platform appears to freeze until the downloads finish.

This happens at almost every startup.

What I’ve tried so far:

1. Restarting Zotero and my computer

2. Pausing sync and restarting Zotero

3. Checking database integrity


Questions:

1. Is this expected behaviour for large libraries?

2. Are there recommended settings to improve startup speed?

3. Would reinstalling Zotero help, or is there a better troubleshooting step?

pphuwasanti

I've now downgraded to Zotero 7, and it starts in less than 5 seconds. My issue appears to depend on the version I installed and, perhaps, also on the number of annotations and files.

adamsmith

Depending on your database might be this? https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/129190/zotero-8-isnt-loading-database#latest

See if the current beta speeds things up for you. See also in the thread the debug info Zotero devs would need to further troubleshoot.

pphuwasanti

I've run the beta version several times and am fairly sure it doesn't speed up the process on my PC.

For your further investigation, I've submitted my debug output: D7464038.

dstillman

This is the same issue as that thread, so you should follow up there. The previous beta would've help a bit, but the latest beta should fix it. Let us know in that thread.