Shared Comp: User Log-in/Log-out Standalone or via Web Browser?

maevepotter

Hi,

I was wondering what the current status of the program is vis a vis logging in and out of a Zotero account on the Standalone client.

So far, the only way I see to do it is a hard wipe of the local data and re-sync. However, I think there should be a better way to do that, i.e. opening a user library like old database files in ProCite etc. Then even if you had multiple users of Zotero Standalone on a single computer, each person could still "log-in" and open up their library. I would also find this useful for my work vs. personal Zotero accounts on my home computer.

Is there any workable way to do this?

As far as I understand it, you can of course access your library via the website, but that doesn't appear very robust to me. Can you still drag and drop cite while you write from the website version? How would you add new sources to your library if you were accessing the library via the web. Would you have to enable something with a plug-in? (I use Standalone, so am unsure how the Firefox plug-in or others work alone).

Thanks..

Simon

You can create separate profiles in Zotero Standalone by launching it from the command line with the -profilemanager argument. You can then uncheck the "don't ask at startup" box and it will ask you which profile you want to use every time you open Zotero Standalone.

For the multi-user case, you can also create separate user accounts on your computer, which you might want to do anyway.

mronkko

You can use different profiles, like on Firefox. Start the standalone from the command line with the -p switch

On Mac:
/Applications/Zotero.app/Contents/MacOS/zotero -p

You should probably configure the switch as a parameter to the shortcut that you use to launch Zotero

But this is not really the best way to do it. If you have multiple users on the same computer, then you should consider having a separate user account for each user.

maevepotter

Hmm... can you both explain the -p switch thing/ -profilemanager argument for windows? I have never done that. I assume start, search box, then some sort of dialogue as mentioned above?

I generally use Chrome, and have never used profiles on Firefox when I did use it. My colleagues will likely be using Safari as they are predominantly on Macs, so tips there would be great too.

As far as user accounts on Windows or Macs... will having Zotero Standalone installed on one account install it on the others, or will it truly be a separate install on each user account (thus keeping data separated)?

mronkko

I believe that the data will be separate. You can check this in the preferences: Check the data storage folder location. If it points to your profile, then data will be separate. (I am fairly sure that this is the case)

I think that -p is just a shortcut for -profilemanager. I do not have a windows computer to test with.

aurimas

The data directory is separate for separate windows accounts unless you specifically set it to be the same.

To use the flag in windows, open the run dialog (windows key + R), hit browse to find zotero standalone. Once you select zotero executable, the path to it will be placed in the run dialog. Now just add -p to the end (put a space before the dash) and hit enter.

EDIT: A note about using different browsers. I don't think you should be running into problems with different profiles if you are using Chrome and Safari. There might be issues if you use Firefox with Standalone and have different profiles set up. I'm not 100% sure about that.

maevepotter

Thanks, this is helpful. I will let you know as I experiment, how it goes..

PattyHuijbers

Hi you all,

Is this option still valid to be used for standalone purposes? I always used to create multiple profiles this way, but now terminal does not seem to recognise the path. [/Applications/Zotero.app/Contents/MacOS/zotero -profilemanager] Path is correct all the way up to -p /-profile/ -profilemanager.

Thanks in advance !

dstillman

Yes, -p works with Standalone. Make sure you have the latest version, since some previous versions required zotero-bin and additional flags. Beyond that, you'd have to say what "terminal does not seem to recognise the path" means.

PattyHuijbers

Thanks for your reply! Updating did the trick.

I'm sorry I wasn't clear about what I'd meant with "terminal does not seem to recognise the path". I just meant that the path << /Applications/Zotero.app/Contents/MacOS/zotero -profilemanager >> was not recognised as a valid path in the command line (I've tried -p and -profile also), but that <</Applications/Zotero.app/Contents/MacOS/zotero >> was recognised.

But it appeared that I just needed to update Zotero, completely forgot to think of that option, sorry. But thank you for the tip!