Starting from scratch

NSBoxall

Hi all,

In the process of attempted partial imports (I left it for 12 hrs and it hadn't imported...I ended the process: disaster struck), I had a bunch of stuff all over the place.

I was using standalone at this point.

I started moving collections and items within to the trash. I started emptying the trash.

It hung. It hung again when I tried (at this point, I thought I only had ~1000 items in their), and eventually, I ended the process through task manager. XULRunner not working. Searched online and then:

I uninstalled. I removed the word plugin.
I went online to my library.
Trash was, apparently, empty.
I reinstalled. I started over - resyncing with the server during lunch.

Then, I looked in trash. 3565 items.

?!?!

I tried to empty trash. After giving myself a manicure (30mins), zotero was (not responding) and I have no idea if I got anywhere. I ended task from task manager = to be told XULRunner not working.

What am I doing wrong? I just want a clean dataset with all my references from one project (2803) in one collection.

I don't get it. HOw can I make it work? Am I being too impatient by only allowing Zotero standalone 12hrs to import 2800 records?

Thanks,
Naomi

adamsmith

no, if something doesn't import after 12hs it won't.

If you just want to empty the trash, though, disable auto-sync and try again. Give it an hour or so, don't worry about the non-responding part.

NSBoxall

Give it an hour to empty, or an hour to resync? Should i turn on autosync before going to bed (or hitting the bottle!) and hope for the best by the next day?

Is it best just to do all manipulations on standalone without autosync then get it to sync overnight?

Thanks adam!
N

adamsmith

Generally autosync isn't a problem and if anything will make things run more smoothly because changes are uploaded in tiny increments every time you change something - but if you're doing very large operations - like adding or deleting thousands of items at once - it can't hurt to turn it off.
I mean give it an hour to empty the trash.
Syncing very large up/downloads are currently a bit lagging (change in sync architecture for Zotero 4.1 should fix that) so once you have the trash successfully emptied, just turn on auto-sync again and let it run overnight if need be. In case you were considering it, do not use any of the reset options in the sync tab, they're going to make things worse.

NSBoxall

Er...I should have heeded your warning. About 2hrs ago. :(

I shall do everything on standalone tonight (if i successfully resist the lure of commiseratory vodka) and then sync overnight if possible; thanks for the clarity in your explanation! You're a star!

N