Zotero button has disappeared from Chrome

Sassy17

Hi, my Zotero standalone icon/button that usually sits to the bottom of my screen, left of centre suddenly vanished. I have not to my knowledge upgraded or deleted anything. My laptop was in for removal of malware a few days prior to the mysterious disappearance, but Zotero was there when I got it back. The add ins in word are still there, but do not connect to my library.

I could not find any trace of Zotero in 'uninstall programmes' list. I saw an icon in downloads, and reinstalled Zotero, hoping my library would be there but it was not. Please Help!!!

thanks.

adamsmith

There has never been a Zotero button on the bottom of Chrome, so I'm assuming you're just talking about the shortcut to start Zotero on your desktop or the quick launch bar.

This is on Windows?

After re-installing Zotero, are you able to launch Zotero now? Is Zotero listed under "all programs" in the start menu?

Sassy17

Hi, thanks for your reply. I am using windows. Yes, I probably do mean a short cut, it is a red Z in a hexagon in a bar at the bottom of my screen. I can launch Zotero, but it does not contain my document library.

thanks

adamsmith

OK, start here then:
https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data#where_did_my_items_go

Sassy17

Hi, that takes me to a folders that have today's or yesterday's date on them (i downloaded Zotero again yesterday). The files dont have anything in them that resembles my library. they are called 'locate' 'styles' and 'translators' and there are 2 files i cannot open called zotero-sqlite and zotero-sqlite-journal

I am not really sure what I am looking for?

regards
Sarah

adamsmith

you're looking for an older version of that folder somewhere on your harddisk.
Zotero doesn't overwrite this on re-install, so the old Zotero folder is likely still somewhere (though typically Zotero would find it on re-install, so that's a bit odd). You could also look in your recent back-ups.

Sassy17

Hi, I spent a long time looking yesterday and could not find anything. Could you be a bit more specific about where to look?
thanks

adamsmith

One thing to do is to just search for zotero.sqlite on your harddisk.
You'll need to enable searching hidden folders in Windows, here are instructions for Windows 7:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/search-for-hidden-files-and-folders-in-windows-7/f47f5bf2-2678-4dae-bbb3-62e202b54b18

The alternative is, again, with Windows set to show hidden folders, to look in locations similar to the current one. If you have or used to have Firefox installed, it's also worthwhile looking in current and old Firefox profiles.

Sorry, I can't be terribly specific. Zotero data doesn't just vanish, so this is related to something you or servicing people did on your harddisk. As I say, if you have a back-up from before the data vanished that might be the easiest.

Sassy17

Hi, I don't have a back up, although of course now I realise I should have!
Showing hidden files did not help reveal anything, it really seems that Zotero has gone. I do need to understand how this happened.
I have never used firefox, and I am sure zotero was on the machine when it returned from servicing. I am not aware that I have deleted anything, so am really bamboozled. can you help me understand how to avoid this happening again?

Sassy17

The add ins in word processing work fine, as does the ability to send info from an Amazon page direct to Zotero (into my now empty library).
I have some of my library synced into the web version. Can i transport that into my new library?

adamsmith

I have some of my library synced into the web version. Can i transport that into my new library?

yes, you just need to sync, that will automatically populate your local library with the info from the web.
https://www.zotero.org/support/sync

As for the other question, sorry, but the only ways in which Zotero would disappear from a system would be if it's specifically uninstalled (and one would have to specifically opt for user data to be deleted in that process) or if someone specifically deleted the Zotero install and the Zotero data folder. I'd still suspect the data is on your computer, but if it's not, then someone deleted it.

aurimas

Any chance that the service people simply created a new user profile for you and then (maybe) only copied over some of your stuff (like Documents)? E.g. were most things missing from your desktop? Did you have to redo a lot of configurations?

Go to Start menu -> Run (or press Windows Key + R) then copy-paste this command and press enter: cmd /C "dir /T:C %USERPROFILE%* & PAUSE" What date does it tell you?

Sassy17

Hi, the date is 2/10/2011, which is when i got the laptop. I did not notice anything missing from my desktop.

I managing to repopulate most of my library by syncing. thanks for the help, I will learn plenty from this episode!
regards
Sassyk