Zotero does not recognize its own library...

ariek

Hi guys,

this is very odd.
When I turnen on Zotro recently (using firefox on mac) it presented an empty library as if this is the first time I am using Zotero ( and I'm using it for a while).

My data is safe. I have back up online and and elsewhere. The question is how to make it recognize its own library.

I could, of course, download all the library from the Zotero server, but I am concerned that by accident it will delete the online items rather than downloading them (maybe this is a false concern, but I would not like to take the slight chance of loosing the library).

How would you recommend treating this problem? Why do think it suddenly doesn't recognize the library?


Thanks a lot,
A.

adamsmith

http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/transferring_a_library
syncing is 100% safe in your set-up and used by thousands of people every day for exactly that purpose, but option A on that page will also get you there.

dstillman

Maybe a better link:

http://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data#troubleshooting_zotero_data_issues

What adamsmith says. Syncing is safe, but your data is almost certainly on your computer, so finding it would be better.

adamsmith

oh and why it's empty? Most likely because it's pointed at a different location from the old library. This could have happened e.g. when you used a custom location for the data folder and the path is no longer valid.

ariek

Thanks for that.

The reason was probably an update of the system.

I took the option of downloading the data set and it works perfectly.

dstillman

OK, but note that you then probably have another copy of your data directory elsewhere on your system, taking up space and perhaps confusing things at some future point. The Zotero Data page can help you find it (e.g., by searching for zotero.sqlite, or looking for other Firefox profiles—did you also lose your Firefox bookmarks?) and remove it or transfer it.

ariek

The profile was fine. There was only the default profile and bookmarks were not lost.

So it was only the Zotero list. I deleted the old data base and re-downloaded it.

Thanks again!

A.