My library disappeared

alevers
1955613174

My library has completely disappeared. When I'm in a word document, it still lets me access the citation, but none of the info in zotero standalone or online shows up. Please help!
  • alevers
    edited March 25, 2015
    even when i try to save new files to zotero, they don't show up. it says there's a zot file issue. I downloaded zotfile but it's never worked for me.
  • dstillman
    edited March 25, 2015
    Start here: https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data#where_did_my_items_go

    If you were using Zotero for Firefox previously, check in Firefox with Zotero Standalone closed.

    Also note that you're running an outdated version of Zotero, 4.0.22, so you should upgrade to the latest version.
  • dstillman
    And how are you trying to save new files to Zotero? ZotFile is a separate third-party extension that runs in Firefox, and you sent a Report ID from Zotero Standalone.
  • alevers
    I was previously using chrome for zotero...a librarian helped me upload it since Zotero isn't very compatable with Chrome. I switched over to Firefox since the library disappeared, and just downloaded the new version of zotero tonight (and restarted my computer directly afterward). If I just re-installed, how is it possible that I'm using a previous version?
  • dstillman
    I was previously using chrome for zotero...
    There's no such thing as "chrome for zotero". There's Zotero for Firefox and Zotero Standalone, and there are browser plugins for Chrome and Safari that work with Standalone. See the installation instructions for more info.
    a librarian helped me upload it since Zotero isn't very compatable with Chrome
    I don't know what that's supposed to mean.
    If I just re-installed, how is it possible that I'm using a previous version?
    I can't answer that, but if you downloaded Zotero from zotero.org, you got 4.0.26.2. You're running 4.0.22.

    If you have specific questions you can certainly ask here, but otherwise I'd suggest reading through more of the documentation or asking your librarian for help in person, since it sounds like you're unclear on various parts of how Zotero works.
  • alevers
    I've already followed those instructions and they did not work. Do you know if there is a way to contact customer support over the phone?
  • dstillman
    If you want live support for Zotero, that would be your librarian. Otherwise, we help dozens of people a day in these forums, but you'd have to actually ask a question that we can answer. If you're having an issue, provide steps to reproduce. There's no way we can help you if you just repeatedly say that something doesn't work (particularly when they're the instructions written by the developers that obviously work for the vast majority of people).
  • alevers
    No need to be snarky. I re-downloaded the most current version of Zotero Standalone. (The chrome version I was referring to was the extension. Since encountering issues tonight, I downloaded Zotero for Firefox, hoping that it might work better.) Now, when I click on Zotero Standalone to open the application, this is this dialogue box appears: "The Zotero database cannot be opened. Make sure you have read and write permissions for all files in the Zotero data directory." The only option is "okay." Is that a specific enough question?
  • dstillman
    I really wasn't being snarky — just explaining how this works. Anyhow, yes, that's a specific question, and the message means what it says. You'll need to fix the permissions in your Zotero data directory. Zotero didn't cause that, and we can't help you with the specifics (which will be depend on your platform and OS version). It's also possible, though less likely, that security software you have installed is interfering with Zotero's ability to write to the disk, though usually that results in a different error.
  • dstillman
    (The chrome version I was referring to was the extension. Since encountering issues tonight, I downloaded Zotero for Firefox, hoping that it might work better.)
    But to be clear, you're still confused if you're saying this. You can never see your data in the Chrome plugin, since all it does is let you save to Zotero Standalone or the Zotero servers.
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