Zotero 5: Sync not working

MDJaeger

Hi

I have just updated to this version from Zotero for Firefox. First failure: Importing the data from Firefox profile did not work. Now Zotero Sync is not working: Even when I inserted my credentials, Zotero keeps pretending that I did not do so.

Any suggestions how to address this nuisance? (In the settings, the Username is there; password field appears empty even after I inserted it multiple times; field for configuring Sync is not accessible).

Thanks for any advice.

MDJaeger

After de-installing standalone Zotero, manually removing any Zotero folders left on the machine (even when option to remove user data was checked during uninstall) and then re-installing Zotero standalone it worked.

Seriously, this is not at all an optimal process. It is not even good enough for "beta". Also, I just encountered the next obstacle right after fixing this one...

dstillman

Sorry, missed this. We just fixed a few problems with data directory migration in the latest release — most notably, if an error occurred (e.g., due to security software), it was possible for Zotero to end up pointing at the new empty data directory instead of the old one. Fixed now in the latest version. The fix here, which you might have discovered, was either to point Zotero back at the old 'zotero' data directory within your Firefox profile directory or to move that directory to the new default location as "Zotero" in your home directory.

Sorry for the trouble. (For what it's worth, while this was definitely an unfortunate bug, it's not one that anyone reported during the 6+ months that data directory migration was in the beta release.)

I don't really follow the sync credentials issue, but it sounds like you might have resolved it. If not, let us know.

MDJaeger

Hi again,

After many of my colleagues struggled with the same issue I was not able to replicate the solution outlined above on another machine. I can hardl believe that no other reports of this have emerged. As it now stands it not possible for us to sync. My colleagues are switching to Mendeley.

dstillman

It's not clear to me what issue you're referring to. As far as we know, the data directory migration problems have been fixed for a while, and if it did happen to you it's easy to point Zotero back at the old data directory — we're happy to help people through that. If you're having sync problems, we'd need to debug that separately.

dstillman

@MDJaeger: OK, I found some more recent causes of data directory migration problems — they're fixed in 5.0.15, which will be available in a few minutes. Thanks for letting us know, and sorry for the trouble.

Recovering the old database should be simple. Close Zotero, rename C:\Users\:username:\Zotero (or /Users/:username:/Zotero if this is on a Mac) to C:\Users\:username:\Zotero-Old, and move the 'zotero' directory within the Firefox profile directory to C:\Users\:username:\Zotero. Then restart Zotero and it should find the old data.

MDJaeger

Hi, thank you very much for your help and your sustained support. I was able to recover the old database the way you described.

However, sync continues to be impossible to realize successfully. Situation remains as described in my initial message: I insert my username and my password. When trying to sync, I receive an error message (in German) 'server did not accept your username and password'. When I re-enter the sync-settings, the password field appears empty. Can be repeated over and over again. Needless to say, the password is correct; I also tried through re-setting it. I tried removing every trace of Zotero from my system, including the registry, nothing seems to help.

dstillman

First, can you provide a Report ID?

I tried removing every trace of Zotero from my system, including the registry, nothing seems to help.

Did that include removing the Zotero profile directory? Specifically, did you try removing the cert8.db, key8.db, and logins.json files? (There should be an error message that suggests that when there's a problem with password storage, but maybe you're not seeing that.)

MDJaeger

Yes, I removed the profile directory, including cert.db, key8.db and logins.json; it didn't work. Just filed a report, the ID is 840829424.

Judging from the surface of the program's behaviour it seems that login data do not properly register within the program. Hopefully, the report illuminates the issue a bit more.

dstillman

Can you provide a Debug ID (different from a Report ID) for logging in from the prefs and then clicking the Sync button? (Your password won't be logged.)

MDJaeger

Sure! Debug ID is D895089542.

dstillman

OK, a bunch of weird things happening, but can you start by resetting your styles from the Advanced → Files and Folders pane of the Zotero preferences? You seem to have a slew of invalid style files in the 'styles' directory of your Zotero data directory. (If you have any custom styles, you can make a backup of that directory first.)

After that, and restarting Zotero, can you provide a Debug ID for trying again (assuming it's still not working)?

dstillman

(You can look at those files — e.g., american-medical-association.csl — in a text editor to see what they look like. This could be due to disk corruption or manual changes you made yourself, or it's possible that security software is interfering with Zotero's reading of those files (though not others, which would be odd).)

MDJaeger

Did the style reset, which removed some of the styles, restarted, but it still did not work. I removed the rest of the styles, restarted, no change. Then created a new Debug-ID: D1172177137.

dstillman

That appears to be just for the sync attempt, not for logging in in the prefs.

dstillman

Also, what exactly is happening when you click Set Up Syncing?

MDJaeger

Nothing, I cannot press the button as it seems to be inactive. Similar for "Reset" in the Sync Prefs. I can send you a screenshot if it helps.

MDJaeger

Btw, I just found out that sync stopped working on my second computer. Same issue there, apparently. It used to work there flawlessly.

MDJaeger

OK, I found the solution. In the end it was so easy that I never even thought of it before:I use a password manager, so what I usually do is drag&drop username & password from the password manager to the entry fields in various programs. However, Zotero does not seem to compute the password entry if I do 'drag&drop'. I have to type in every character individually.

MDJaeger

Sync works on both of the computers now. However, I am really astonished how sync could stop working on the second computer without any changes whatsoever made in the settings on that machine.

dstillman

Zotero does not seem to compute the password entry if I do 'drag&drop'. I have to type in every character individually.

OK, we can look into that to see if we can detect the drop. But you definitely don't have to type manually. Copy-and-paste works correctly, and that's much more common. (Honestly I've never heard of anyone using drag-and-drop from a password manager.) 

However, I am really astonished how sync could stop working on the second computer without any changes whatsoever made in the settings on that machine.

I'm assuming that was also upgraded from Zotero for Firefox? The sync password in Zotero for Firefox is stored semi-encrypted in the Firefox password manager, so when you upgrade to Zotero 5.0, we're not able to transfer that over. Restoring syncing is as simple as entering your password when prompted — you just had trouble because you were trying to use drag-and-drop.

MDJaeger

The problem was indeed solved by not using drag&drop. I am not going to argue about how often people use drag&drop instead of copy/paste. Ideally, it should work both ways.

I upgraded on the second computer from Zotero for Firefox, but did so months ago. It worked there. Possibly, I typed in the password instead of usind drag&drop, but that is beside the point: When I tried addressing the issue on the first computer today, sync stopped working on the second computer although I did not touch any setting, showing the same odd behaviour (same errors, could not enter "Set Up Syncing" or "Reset" in sync prefs). I am glad it finally works for now, so I will not seek to reproduce the issue. Thanks again for your patient support in resolving the issue.