Initial Sync for Library Repeatedly Unsuccessful

jsderouchie

I have imported a library of 1,195 items into zotero. I have tried to sync my library with the online server about 4 or 5 times. It has been unsuccessful each time even though I have allowed it attempt to sync for hours at a time, even overnight. On the most recent attempt after being left to sync overnight, there was a red circle with an exclamation mark to the left of the spinning "sync" icon (which was no longer spinning). There was a message from zotero that there had been an error with the sync. I sent the report and the report ID is 300150073. What do I need to do to get my library synced with the online account? Also, do I have the option to sync my zotero library online to either my personal library or to a group? How would I select that?

adamsmith

do I have the option to sync my zotero library online to either my personal library or to a group? How would I select that?

everything under "My Library" will always sync to your personal library. You'd have to create a group and drag items/collections to that group in the Zotero software to sync items to that group.

(Dan will be around to look at the sync error later).

jsderouchie

Thanks, Adam. I look forward to hearing from Dan about the sync error.

dstillman

Invalid session ID

I would try a few more times. The issue most likely isn't the 1,195 new items — it's the 40,000 items in one of your group libraries, which Zotero is trying to process. If that takes over 2 hours, you could get that error, but even with that many items that shouldn't happen unless this is a particularly slow computer.

One thing that that might help is trying again shortly after it fails. If the group data hasn't changed, the server will use a cached version of the data, which will save about 15-25 minutes of generating the data to download (which would count towards the session timeout, though, again, the processing on your computer shouldn't take anywhere near 2 hours).

Let me know if you continue to have trouble.

dstillman

Oh, and as an alternative, if you have Zotero working on another computer, and still have the new data to import, you could simply
transfer your library to this computer and then reimport the data and sync it.

You could also leave that group temporarily, sync your personal library, and then join the group again and try to download the group data.

The next major version of Zotero will improve this a lot, both in terms of handling syncing of larger libraries better and also of syncing different libraries separately.

jsderouchie

Thanks, Dan. I tried the sync again and got the same error message. However, I immediately attempted another sync after receiving this message and that attempt was successful and only took a few minutes. Thanks for your help!