How to clean up local file storage on Zotero standalone

adamhodges
I'm using the Zotero standalone version. I'm wondering how to clean up files stored locally on my computer that are no longer in My Library.

Here's what I've done:

1. I transferred everything from My Library to a Group Library that I own and administer. (I needed to be able to share everything with a colleague.)

2. Next, to save room on Zotero's cloud storage, I deleted everything from My Library ("Delete Collection Plus Items") and emptied the trash. Everything good so far. Nothing remains in My Library, and the storage usage on Zotero reflects those changes.

3. But now the local "storage" folder for Zotero on my computer is double in size. It seems that all the files that were originally in My Library are still stored locally even though I deleted them from My Library.

Is there anyway to clean up that local folder? If I can't, I can live with it. But it would allow me to reclaim 2-3 GB of precious space on my computer, which would be nice.

At any rate, it seems strange that those files weren't expunged locally when I went through the process in step 2 above. Any details that would help me wrap my head around what's happening here would be helpful. Thanks.
  • adamsmith
    Those files should be expunged locally. To be clear, you have emptied the Zotero trash not just the system trash, right?
    Have you tried restarting? Someone mentioned the files only disappeared after restart, though that makes no sense from the Zotero perspective, could be an oddity in how the OS handles deletions.

    If none of that helps, there is a python script that will delete orphaned files, but that really shouldn't be necessary given that you've done everything by the book.
  • adamhodges
    Right, I emptied the trash icon listed under My Library. I assume that's what you mean by Zotero trash. Not the trash on my computer (although that is empty, too).

    I have restarted several times.

    And FYI I'm running Windows 7.

    Is the python script difficult to use for a non-programmer?
  • adamsmith
    I misremembered - it's a perl script.
    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/9091/orphaned-attachment-files/#Item_8 - not that it matters much.

    You'll need to replace the zotero data and storage folder location in the beginning of the script using notepad and save the modified script, install Perl for Windows and can than just run the script as described by mronkko in an MS Dos Window - Windows always makes this a bit harder, perl comes pre-installed on all *nix computers.

    That said, I'd ask you to hold off on that for a couple of days. I'd want Dan to take a look at this, as it really shouldn't be happening - and if this is a general issue it needs to be fixed (and you may not have to deal with the script, while I think most people _can_ run scripts when given proper instructions, I also believe that no one should have to).
  • dstillman
    Can you reproduce this? That is, if you create an item with a file attachment in My Library, do Show File, navigate up one level to 'storage' (but remember the original folder name), and then delete the parent item in Zotero and empty the trash, does the folder remain?
  • adamhodges
    I just tried reproducing it as you suggested (twice); but was unable to do so. The folder that contained the new item in 'storage' disappeared as expected when I deleted it from My Library.

    Could there be another reason why my local storage is over double the cloud storage?
  • adamsmith
    oh - it's just twice as big as the cloud storage, not twice as big as before?
    Snapshots are zipped on the server, so if you have a large bunch of those, that could easily explain the local storage folder being twice as large as the amount of storage you're using on the server.
  • adamhodges
    Maybe that's it. Although the storage size on my computer did seem to increase dramatically after I did the transfer to the Group Library and deletion from My Library.

    And it does seem a stretch that the snapshots I have (I have far more PDF attachments) would take up an extra 2-3 GB on my computer. The Zotero folder on my computer is 4.9 GB and my Zotero cloud storage is 1.9 GB (with a 6 GB quota).

    But at least I now know that the storage on my computer doesn't necessarily correspond one-to-one with the cloud storage.

    Thanks for everyone's input on this.
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