5.0 upgrade didn't find 4.0 library

dstillman

This discussion was created from comments split from: Zotero 5.0 and old Zotero folder.

amos_AA

I also used Zotero for FF up to now. Today I installed Z 5.0 and also added the Zotero connector to Firefox. My problem now is that I could not find my previously used, well-stocked library after starting Z 5.0. The file zotero.sqlite in the standard directory path is empty. It seems that automatic migration did not work.
But more surprising is that I can't find my "old" directory incl. my library anywhere else on my computer. I am a little bit confused at the moment.

dstillman

You can see my comment here for an explanation of what likely happened — Zotero 5.0 used an old version of your Zotero Standalone data directory. Follow the instructions there to point it back at the 'zotero' directory within your Firefox profile directory. You can then delete the empty "Zotero" directory in your home directory, and Zotero should automatically migrate the Firefox profile 'zotero' to the new location.

But if you downloaded Zotero today, version 5.0.9/5.0.10 should have automatically picked the most recent data directory that you used. In the empty library that you see now, is there a Zotero Quick Start Guide, and if so, what is its Date Added value in the right-hand pane?

dstillman

One possibility: if you're running security software, it's possible that Zotero wasn't able to access the Firefox data directory and so migrated the Zotero profile one instead as the best it could do.

amos_AA

Now it seems to work. I found my previous library in the FF subdirectory and copied zotero.sqlite and the bak-file as well as the storage directory to the new home path.
I have not used your hint for the automatic migration by deleting the empty zotero.sqlite. But I think I have not seen a quick start guide there. There was no item. THX for your help.