starting a new group

I have a personal Zotero account with purchased storage space. I want to start a new account that is for a group. I will moderate this account at first but will open it to a research community. If we buy storage space, it will be purchased through a separate account. But for now, my name will be associated with the account since I am starting it and moderating it for the foreseeable future.

What do I need to do to keep this account and my personal account from being entangled? And what is the maximum number of people in a group who can use a group account?
  • edited May 2, 2014
    Going backwards
    what is the maximum number of people in a group who can use a group account?
    There is no limit.
    What do I need to do to keep this account and my personal account from being entangled?
    you have a couple options.

    You can use one account with Zotero Standalone and another with Zotero in Firefox. If you're currently using both for the same account, you want to first disable sync via Preferences -> Sync -> Sync automatically. Then you will want to make sure that you are not sharing your data directory between the two. Pick the one (Standalone or Firefox) you want to use for the new account, go to Preferences -> Advanced -> Files and Folders and under Data directory location, select a new directory.

    If, say, you are not using Firefox at all, you can use different profiles. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles (that only talks about Firefox, but it applies the same way for Standalone) With profiles, you will not be able to access both libraries at the same time.

    If you do not need to purchase storage immediately, you can create the group under your account, then transfer group ownership to another account at a later point.

    Edit: added link to profiles
  • Thank you for this clear information! I do have one more question: I use the Firefox browser, but I think setting up the new account as a stand-alone would probably make it more accessible to everyone in the group. Can I set up an account to be stand-alone if I am actually *in* the Firefox browser at the time? Or should I use, say, Safari as the browser when I set up the account to make sure it's stand-alone? Thanks again for your help!
  • What you use to access the library (Standalone or Firefox) has no effect on other users of the Library. It's like using different browsers to access a shared Gmail account.

    To be clear, you create the account online on Zotero.org, then you choose whichever application (Zotero in Firefox or Standalone) to sync the online data to your local computer
  • Thank you! This helps very much!!
  • Alas, when I set up the new account, the library panes that normally appear in my browser (that show my library on my computer) vanished. I can't seem to get them back. When I click on the "Z" icon in the browser toolbar, it just takes me to the online library. The old Zotero word that used to appear in the bottom right-hand corner of my browser window, and that brought up my library in my window, has vanished as well.
  • edited May 2, 2014
    For Zotero icon see https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/36409/zotero-icon-in-firefox-29-and-higher/

    Can you show a screenshot about the panes disappearing? (Upload it to imgur.com, Dropbox, or something similar and link to it here) I'm not sure I understand where you are looking for these panes

    Edit: typos... darn you Swype
  • Well, I had found that article you referenced. Before I set up the new account, when I used the new Z icon in the toolbar, it opened both my account online and also the panes in my browser window. Now the panes in my browser window are not there. I can't take a picture of them because they're, well, gone.

    To describe it: Before, when I was on a site with an article I wanted to save to Zotero, I would click the icon in the lower-left corner of the window (that is now a Z in the toolbar) and the bottom of my browser window would "life up" as panes to my library became visible. I could save the resource and add notes, etc. right there. When I synched with my online files, then that new file would go up online.

    Now that "home" view does not exist. I can access ONLY the library that's stored online. I am sure it has similar functionality, but I am very distressed at not having my "home" windows any more. This isn't related to the new version of Firefox, as it was there even this morning. But since I set up the new account, it's gone.

    :-(
  • I meant "lower-right corner" of the browser window, above. Sorry.
  • Did you create a new Firefox profile for the new account or are you using Firefox and Standalone? If your created a new profile, you need to re-download Zotero (and anything else you had installed in Firefox). creating a new profile gives you a fresh Firefox configuration with new nsound and with default settings.
  • Uh-oh. I was going to create the new Firefox profile AFTER I set up the new account. Wrong order, huh.

    Do I need to uninstall Firefox before I re-download it? And if I do that, will it automatically go to ... which Zotero? Do I need to create the new profile first? Or ... ACK!

    I feel like I just fried my lovely Zotero by trying to set up something for our graduate students. :-(

    Can you give me step-by-step (1, 2, 3) instructions to follow? Please?
  • Also, how do I set the new account (indigenous_research) so it is Standalone? I did not see that option, though I looked.
  • no no. Nothing is fried (99% sure). Back up a little and tell me what exactly did you do so far.
  • Whew. You allow me to breathe again. :-)

    OK. What I did so far is this: I logged out of my personal account. I went to the Zotero home page. I opened a new account (as if I had never been to Zotero in my life) under indigenous_research. I used the email address for the organization on that (webmaster@americanindigenousresearchassociation.org) instead of my personal email address. When I did this, I went to zotero preferences to see if I could set up a new directory (as you had mentioned). I could not see how to do it. I decided to see if the browser pane for indigenous_research would open in my computer so I tried to open it. Nothing came up. I figured it was because there are no resources there yet (in that library). So I logged out of that account and into my personal account. But that pane would not appear either. That's when I got scared and posted here.
  • You seem to be misunderstanding how Zotero works in general. Let me explain a bit more. I'll try to use some analogies (note that the analogy is not exactly correct, but it serves this purpose). Let's say your zotero.org account is analogous to your email (I'll use Gmail as an example).

    To create your account you go to gmail.com and you make an account. You can access your emails by visiting the gmail.com website, just like you would be accessing your Zotero database by going to zotero.org.

    Now you decide that you want to access your email even when you're not connected to the internet, so you use Outlook (or Thunderbird, or whatever the Mac version of Outlook is) on your computer and you _sync_ your email by entering your username and password. Similarly, you can do the same with your zotero.org database by using Zotero Standalone and entering your credentials in Preferences -> Sync.

    You also decide that you want to access your email from your phone, so you use some Android or iOS app to access your email. You just enter your email credentials and your emails are synced to your phone. Let's say that this is analogous to Zotero in Firefox and let's say that this is on a different computer than Zotero Standalone above. Just like for Standalone, you could go to Preferences -> Sync and enter your account credentials and everything would sync to your computer.

    Note that neither in your email's case or Zotero case, there is nothing about your account that is specific to Firefox or Standalone (or mail client or phone). You just use different applications to access the same exact account.

    In the same way, there is absolutely nothing about Zotero groups that makes them specific to Standalone or Firefox. A group is a group and it is accessible from any client.
  • Oh. My. Goodness!! Your computer karma must rock. After I read this, I went to the Firefox toolbar and simply hit "Zotero" under the "Tools" menu. And my panes reappeared! :-D

    OK, I am just going to chalk this up to the magic of your karma and be thrilled. Your explanation DID help me and I really appreciate it. Now I am not in such a panic -- and won't be again, if my pane vanishes that way.

    Now that my heart rate is normal again, let me be sure I understand my next steps in setting up the account for the graduate student group. BEFORE I do anything this time! :-) Tell me if this is correct:
    1. I need to set the indigenous_research account to "Standalone". I should be able to do that in Zotero website in the account settings for that new account, right?
    2. I already turned off automatic sync for my main personal account, but I need to do this for the new account as well.
    3. I need to do this: "Pick the one (Standalone or Firefox) you want to use for the new account, go to Preferences -> Advanced -> Files and Folders and under Data directory location, select a new directory."
    4. Do I need to also create a new Firefox profile? Or is it too late for that?
    5. I can invite graduate students to join the new group and start putting in resources so they can play with how it works and add their own?

    Thank you again for your help. I am indebted forever, as I cannot tell you how I rely on Zotero. But now there are a bunch of Native American and even Maori and Saami and Aboriginal graduate researchers (in natural and social sciences) who are indebted to you as well. None of them knows about Zotero until now, and they are all very eager to have this new resource available to them. You are helping me make that possible, and as you can see by my level of computer-ineptness, it would not happen without you!!!
  • I need to set the indigenous_research account to "Standalone". I should be able to do that in Zotero website in the account settings for that new account, right?
    Please re-read my post. There is no such thing as a "Standalone" zotero account. Zotero Standalone is just an application that allows you to manage your account on your computer.

    The important thing for you is that you are trying to manage two accounts on the same computer, so you need two different applications to access the accounts (unless you want to use two profiles, but let's just stick to two applications). So, you will use Zotero in Firefox to access your personal account and you will use Zotero Standalone to access your organization's account.

    If that is clear, we can proceed with setting up Zotero Standalone and Zotero for Firefox
  • Ah. I am getting there. When you say this: "So, you will use Zotero in Firefox to access your personal account and you will use Zotero Standalone to access your organization's account" -- how do I do that? I have always come in through my Firefox browser. Should I use Safari instead? (I can just try that, but I figure since I'm messing up I ought to ask if that's the right step before I try it.)
  • if you're using Zotero Standalone, you don't need a browser to access you Zotero data. It'll be right there in the application once you have synced. To add items to Standalone from your browser, yes, I'd recommend using Safari and installing the Zotero connector (listed on the right with the Safari logo here: https://www.zotero.org/download/ ).
    To access any Zotero account online on zotero.org you can use any browser and as aurimas says above, that's entirely separate from which Zotero version you use for that account.
  • All right. This is making sense to me now -- which says something about the patience you all show in explaining things. I will go do that. I hope if I come back afterwards to get a little more help setting up, if I need it, that you folks won't give up on me. Thanks for everything so far!
  • I am in the other account now. I got it to work on Safari. So I am on indigenous_research. However, there is no "Tool" in the menu bar on safari, so I cannot get the pane to open in the browser window. Will it not do that in Standalone? If you are in Standalone do you have to simply work with the online library and have no browser-"embedded" pane? Is that what Standalone means, essentially?
  • the pane is only in Firefox. The equivalent in Standalone is just running the program (from the application bar/folder in OSX)
  • Thank you! All right: last question. Am I ready now to (a) put a few resources in to show the students how they work, and (b) send out email invitations to the graduate students? I can send them the link you shared with me on the way to download Zotero for Firefox or get the linking software for Standalone use. Is there anything else I need to send them to get started, besides the user name and password for the group? Are there a few particularly helpful-for-beginner pages you recommend I send them? (I have piddled around in Zotero almost since you guys opened shop -- before 2003 at least -- so I am not really aware of the resources you have now for first-time users.)
  • don't send them a username and/or password! They need to make their own Zotero accounts and then join the group. Just have Zotero send the invites to join the group.

    This is a good link to getting started: https://www.zotero.org/support/quick_start_guide
    If you want a full tutorial, this is good:
    http://ica.library.oregonstate.edu/tutorials/626--Introduction-to-Zotero
    (I have piddled around in Zotero almost since you guys opened shop -- before 2003 at least -- so I am not really aware of the resources you have now for first-time users.)
    that'd be hard - Zotero started in 2006 ;).
  • Thanks for telling me not to send them the name and password. Whew. Nearly messed up again! I will send them both those links, too.

    As to 2006 -- Wow! I sure thought I'd had it loaded before we moved to a certain state. But it must have been before the *next* move we made! LOL I just remember going to New Mexico in 2008 and getting someone in the state library there to help me figure out if I could upgrade my Firefox browser without losing Zotero. (You had just gone from version 1 to something higher. The answer then was 'no'. So I had a University of Colorado library person help me reset everything in 2011 instead.) You can see I have *always* been inept, though very devoted. LOL

    Thank you so much for making this new resource possible. I am off to send an email to the graduate students! :-)
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