How to migrate my data to another account with all my note and divided-group unchanged?

liuhaijincn

When I export the references, all my notea were losted and all the divided groups were changed. So I want to konw how to migrate my data to another account without change.

bwiernik

The easiest way is to just change your login information in the Zotero Preferences "Sync" pane to the new account and Sync. This will merge your local library with any online library. Export/import is not recommended, as it is unnecessary and will break any links with existing Word/LibreOffice documents.

dstillman

Note that merging isn't currently possible in 5.0 (but I'm also not totally sure word processor links would survive an account change previously, since they're stored with the user id).

bwiernik

@dstillman Is the only way to merge in this way in 5.0 then via export/import? Zotero RDF should maintain notes and collections, right?

dstillman

Is the only way to merge in this way in 5.0 then via export/import?

At the moment, yes.

Zotero RDF should maintain notes and collections, right

I think so. Zotero RDF doesn't get a lot of attention, but definitely notes and I think collections as well.

bwiernik

Good to know, thanks.

@hahahahahahaha Try to export as Zotero RDF then import.

liuhaijincn

I tried the to migrate merge the data just now. As Mr @dstillman said, the stored data was deleted when i change the account. So I tried another way. As I thought, the way export as RDF and then import only work well only when export one folder. And I have about fifty folder.

dstillman

I'm not sure what you mean by that. You can export the whole library from the File menu.

(It might import all the collections under one new collection, though, so you might have to then move them out. Export/import will also reset Date Added/Modified for all items.)

liuhaijincn

I'm sorry I didn't make it clear. I know what you mean. What I want is export/ import the references and keep the catalog same as another account. I think there is no way to achieve this. I will export and import the collection list one by one, Although it will take lot of time.

dstillman

I don't know what you mean by "keep the catalog same as another account". There's no need to export collections one by one, and if you do so you'll likely end up with many duplicate items.

Can you explain the problem with just using Export Library and then import?

liuhaijincn

Sorry for my poor English. There are about 700 articles in my zotero collection. And they are classified as four research fields. It is shown in the zotero as 4 folders. There are several sub-fields in each research field.
My reference articles were classified like the content of a book. So the 700 articles were scattered in about 50 folders. Of course there are many articles listed in more than one fields.
And now, I want to move them to another account with the same catalog.
Did I make it clear?

dstillman

Yes, and what is the problem with using Export Library?

liuhaijincn

If I export the references as a Zotero RDF and then import to another account, all the articles are listed in one fold. What I want is import them with the catalog unchanged. If not, I have to spend lot of time to classify them one by one.
https://github.com/lhjmemory/memory_tju/blob/master/TIM截图20180126171834.jpg
This is the screenshot of part of my zotero lists.

dstillman

When you import from Zotero RDF, it creates both a top-level collection for the import containing all the items and also subcollections that mirror all the collections in your previous library. As I say above, you would need to drag those subcollections (just the ones one level deep) back to the root, but that shouldn't take more than a few minutes. And this is presumably something you're just trying to do once.

If this doesn't match with the behavior you're seeing, post a screenshot that shows what you're describing.

dstillman

Out of curiosity, though, why are you trying to do this at all? Is your goal simply to change your username, or are you trying to do something else? (You don't need to change accounts just to change your username.)

liuhaijincn

I knew you might want to know why I have to change the account. The account I used now is registered with the email of my friend. Because registration in China was unsuccessful. I registered a account with my email when I attended the international conference in English. So I want to move the references to my account.

adamsmith

You can just change e-mail addresses in your account:
Set up a second e-mail address, verify it, then make it your primary e-mail address.

liuhaijincn

Ok, I want to change the username too. Can you tell me how? I can't stand this stupid name.

liuhaijincn

@dstillman Sir, do you know how to change the username? I didn't find the access.

liuhaijincn

@dstillman Do you know how to change the username?

fcheslack

You can't do this yourself yet. That update to the website is waiting on something else to go live, but should happen very soon.

adamsmith

@hahahahahahaha

you can now change your username on https://www.zotero.org/settings/account