failure to empty trash - Report ID: 1253712438

james.k.russell

On a third attempt to empty the trash, Zotero generated an error report and asked that I post here.
On the two prior attempts, it crashed.
I am trying to remove a very large set of trash (~20,000 items).
There does not appear to be any way to challenge it less for this purpose - if I select just a portion of the trash, deletion is not offered as an option.

dstillman

Select a subset of items in the trash and press Delete/Backspace. There's no menu option, but you can still remove items permanently that way.

james.k.russell

Tried that, no effect.
Checked database integrity - came back clean.
Not sure what to try next.

dstillman

Tried that, no effect.

Meaning what? That's how you delete a subset of items from the trash.

james.k.russell

Meaning I tried it, and nothing happened.

james.k.russell

I'm using standalone, on Win 7, if that matters.

james.k.russell

I tried backspace, I tried delete, I tried Ctrl-backspace, Alt-backspace, Ctrl-delete and Alt-delete. Nothing happens.

james.k.russell

New - trouble. Exasperated with trying unsuccessfully to empty trash, I exported the 28 collections I had - everything except the trash. Then I removed and reinstalled Zotero standalone. Each collection is pretty large, and I get:

A script on this page may be busy, or it may have stopped responding. You can stop the script now, or you can continue to see if the script will complete.

Script: C:\Users\usd04318\AppData\Roaming\Zotero\Zotero\Profiles\21yqw2td.default\zotero\translators\RDF.js:81

repeatedly. My options are Continue or Stop script. I Continue. My question is this: there is a check box "Don't ask me again". If I check that, do I alwayst get Continue, alwasy Stop or always whatever I do next?

dstillman

http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/unresponsive_script_warning

But export is not meant for something like this. Do you have an actual backup of your database? We can solve the trash issue. You're on your own if you go the export/import route.

dstillman

In the trash, you have to select only top-level items before pressing Delete/Backspace. Press "-" to collapse all items. If any child items are selected, the delete won't work.

james.k.russell

I have a copy of everything under Zotero. What do you recommend?

james.k.russell

ok, thanks, I seem to be underway (having restored from the saved files). fwiw, it is "delete", not "backspace" that works on a PC. Confusion forgivable - on a Mac it is even worse - what the PC thinks of as backspace is marked "Delete", what the PC thinks of as delete is marked "Delete x>". It's as stupid as 0 and O, l and 1, big-endian and little-endian. Our only hope is to be precise. Also, there is no '-', at least on stand-alone on Windows, there's a little triangle.

Not complaining - you guys are great. Just trying to help in case anyone else gets tripped up over these details.

Thanks,

dstillman

on a Mac it is even worse - what the PC thinks of as backspace is marked "Delete", what the PC thinks of as delete is marked "Delete x>"

OK, right—I didn't bother to look down at the keyboard. In any case, on a Mac you can press either. I guess we don't map Backspace to delete on non-Mac systems, possibly because it's more likely to be used for Back.

Also, there is no '-', at least on stand-alone on Windows, there's a little triangle.

No, I meant the minus key. "-" and "+" collapse and expand all items, respectively. You don't need to manually close each item.

james.k.russell

Yeah, didn't think of the key until after I posted. Found it, and now am deleting the whole mess at once.

Thanks a lot.

dstillman

(OK, found where we decided to unbind Backspace on Windows: http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/5753/backspace-behaviour-can-be-confusing/#Item_4 )

james.k.russell

Well - not the whole mess at once - Zotero couldn't complete that. I ended up discarding batches of ~500.

Need a stress test case?