1248093803 : behavior changes when importing citation data ?

I have just upgraded to the latest Zotero and I have installed the new Firefox connector. Citation data enters the underlying database from Firefox, but the new data is no longer displayed as a new entry, and the document list resets to the beginning of My Library. I have to search My Library to find the entry for the newly-cited document and to see its metadata for editing. Please restore the previous behavior -- "put it back the way it were". Thanks. This may be related to 713312975.
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  • Just to be clear, you have the Zotero app when you try to import? And what you are saying is that sometimes when you import the new item isn’t selected?
  • Saving to Zotero works as it did previously. If it doesn't for you, provide steps to reproduce and explain what you expect versus the current behaviour.
  • (a) Firefox browser open, Zotero connector installed.
    (b) Zotero open, latest version installed.
    (c) In either google books or internet archive, select a book.
    (d) After the chosen book opens in the browser, click the Zotero icon.
    (e) In Zotero, the book list resets to the beginning of the alphabet in My Library, and the new data fails to appear in the metadata pane.
    (f) Enter some significant search term in the Zotero search box.
    (g) The new book shows up in the book list. Select the new book and its data appears in the metadata pane.

    I expect the previous behavior: When the Zotero icon is clicked in the browser, the imported data should appear in the metadata pane and the book should be selected in the book list.
  • edited September 8, 2017
    I expect the previous behavior: When the Zotero icon is clicked in the browser, the imported data should appear in the metadata pane and the book should be selected in the book list.
    That is indeed what should be happening. If you go into zotero connector preferences, does it say that Zotero is available?
  • You will need to tell me how to go into zotero connector preferences. The data does flow from the browser to Zotero, so I assume that it thinks that Zotero is available.
  • Right click within a browser page -> Zotero Connector -> Preferences
  • Thanks. Under General, says Zotero is available.
  • I’ve also experienced the newly imported item not being selected sometimes, but haven't been able to figure out a way to reliably replicate.

    @alexander.bocast Please do continue to work with adomasven to try to find the source of the bug. As a temporary workaround, you can add the "Date Added" or "Date Modified" columns to the middle pane in the Zotero app, then sort by these and go to the most recently added item if it isn't selected when you import (by typing the Home/End key or Fn+Left/Right).
  • Interesting idea. Might well be quicker than typing in a sufficiently unambiguous search string...
  • When you select a collection in Zotero and save with the Connector you should get a progress bar in the browser window with a title "Saving to [Collection name]". Is that what you get?
  • In My Library, I would see a green progress bar that had no label.

    Now I cannot replicate the error. The last four attempts have acted as expected. Attempts have been in My Library and specific collections. No green status bar -- but that could be because it is now after 1AM PST and things go faster now.
  • If you had a green progress bar that means that your account has been syncing. Either because you just had a big sync running in general, or because the Zotero Connector was failing to connect to Zotero and saving directly to your online library and then Zotero pulled the item in, resetting the selection in Zotero. If you tried saving to collections form the connector and the items still landed in My Library, then it's likely the latter and would have been caused by other conflicting extensions or security software.
  • I (nearly) always import metadata from Firefox into My Library and then, as needed, assign the document to other collections. Since I updated to 5.0.17, all my imports of metadata have been to My Library, at least until I a few minutes ago when I tried to import to a specific collection as noted in my last post.

    I have 3060 items in My Library, but that count is so small that I don't see it being associated with any timing or synching issues.
  • Today again the import is broken.
  • 1. Is Zotero syncing (green loading bar at the bottom of the client)?
    2. Is Zotero Connector reporting Zotero online (in the Connector Preferences)?
    3. When you save does the progress window in the browser say "Saving to My Library" or "Saving to zotero.org"?
  • edited September 9, 2017
    There's no green progress bar during Zotero syncing in Zotero 5.0. @alexander.bocast, it sounds like you might be referring to the progress bar that displays over the entire Zotero UI when the program is started? If you're saving to Zotero, you want to wait until that goes away and you can see your items.
  • 1.Sometimes. When it shows, it is smack in the middle of the Zotero window, which occupies one of my displays.
    2. Yes.
    3. When it appears, the green progress bar has no labels. If you are talking about some other "progress window", I don't see one.

    Same sort of behavior observed when File/New Item/Book is selected. Book list resets to alphabetical beginning of list; no change to displayed metadata. In this case, no search for the new item is needed because, being empty, it appears at the beginning of the list. Sometimes, however, instead of seeing the list, a banner page displays in the book list pane.
  • And sometimes the search fails. Type into the search box, and nothing happens... After a while, maybe, a correct research result may appear, in grey (rather than black) font, overlaying lines in the book list. The displayed metadata does not change. The document list pane does not refresh. I wish I could attach a screen shot to this post.
  • Now I'm watching the "busy working on your search" spinner spin and spin. The book I was searching for has appeared in the document list pane, but in grey rather than black font. The contents of the metadata window have not changed. Has been spinning now for about five minutes and it is still spinning...

    By the way, I took my system down and did a cold start to reboot. Still spinning...

    I clicked the little x at the end of the search term input box: the document list was reset to the beginning of the alphabet AND the data about the book I was searching for popped into the metadata pane. Upon scrolling down the document list, I find the book I was seeking highlighted.
  • Sometimes. When it shows, it is smack in the middle of the Zotero window, which occupies one of my displays.
    As I say, when you see a progress bar in the middle of the Zotero window, that's just Zotero starting up. You want to wait until it starts up before you try to save to it from the browser. If Zotero is closed (or not yet fully initialized), Zotero will save to your online library. (If Zotero has been opened since the last save, it will ask you if that's really what you want to do.)

    If you save to your online library, the item will sync back down to Zotero and won't be highlighted. If you save directly to Zotero, it should be highlighted.
    When it appears, the green progress bar has no labels. If you are talking about some other "progress window", I don't see one.
    adomasven was asking about the progress window you see in the bottom right of your browser window when you click the save button. It will say that it's saving to your library/collection or zotero.org.
  • (a) I always have Zotero up and running. Whenever I'm forced to reboot, I start up Firefox and then I start up Zotero. Then I go on to other things I need to do to re-establish my working environment.

    (b) I don't have, as far as I know, an "online library". Zotero does not ask me where I want to save anything. How would I determine whether I have such an "online library"?

    (c) What "save button" would that be? I click on a Zotero icon up at the top right with the other browser command buttons. A window pops open at the bottom right corner of the browser, informing me that the data is being saved to My Library. Then it closes itself.

    I have been using Zotero for several years. This bad stuff all started with 5.0.17.
  • (a) I always have Zotero up and running. Whenever I'm forced to reboot, I start up Firefox and then I start up Zotero. Then I go on to other things I need to do to re-establish my working environment.
    You said that you sometimes see a green progress bar over the Zotero UI. When you see that, Zotero is still starting up (or somehow stuck starting up), and the connector will save to your online library rather than Zotero when that's the case. It sounds like that may just be the extent of the problem.
    (b) I don't have, as far as I know, an "online library". Zotero does not ask me where I want to save anything. How would I determine whether I have such an "online library"?
    You have an online library. You can see it by clicking My Library at the top of this page. Again, if Zotero isn't open, Zotero will save to there (if you've given it permission to do so).
    (c) What "save button" would that be? I click on a Zotero icon up at the top right with the other browser command buttons. A window pops open at the bottom right corner of the browser, informing me that the data is being saved to My Library. Then it closes itself.
    That's the save button. It says "Save to Zotero" when you hover over it.

    When the popup says that it's saving to My Library or a collection, the new item should be selected when you switch to Zotero. If it says that it's saving to zotero.org, it won't be. Are you seeing something different?
  • Yes, I have been seeing something different. See the preceding posts. To recapitulate, when importing metadata from Firefox, or trying to create a new item manually, or sometimes when just trying to find something using the search: the new or found item is NOT highlighted or selected in the document list and the metadata pane is NOT updated with the data for the imported, new, or found item. The document list DOES reset to the alphabetical beginning of the list, EXCEPT when a WELCOME banner is displayed in the document list pane instead of the document list. In this last case, the metadata pane is cleared.

    Thank you for pointing me to that online library feature. This online library has been invisible/transparent to me, I suppose because I always use Zotero stand-alone.

    I haven't seen that green progress bar for a while...
  • Yes, I've read the above posts. It sounds like you're misunderstanding some parts of this (e.g., that you have an online library that you're syncing with, what the progress bar means), so I'm explaining the expected conditions under which this would occur so that you can verify whether you're actually seeing something unintended.

    It's still not clear to me how often this is occurring for you or if there are specific steps to reliably reproduce it. When this starts occurring, if you just restart Zotero (and wait for it to start up), does it keep happening? (If not, a bug fix coming in the next release will probably fix it.)

    You seem to be describing some weird behavior all around — e.g., a "welcome banner", which, if you mean the "Welcome to Zotero" message in the middle pane, shouldn't ever appear once you have at least a single item in your library — so it might be helpful for you to take some screen recordings of the problems you're describing, upload them somewhere (e.g., Dropbox), and provide links here.
  • I cannot distinguish any difference between the sequences of actions or states preceding expected Zotero behavior and those leading to bad behavior, but I'm experiencing good and bad behavior in about equal proportions. I do what I have done literally now thousands of times, but now I see perverse behaviors as well as expected behaviors. I have exited and restarted Zotero, several times, particularly when the search function hangs with the busy icon spinning. I have also rebooted my machine with cold reboots.

    Yes, I do mean that welcome to Zotero message, which, given that I have a few thousand items, should not be displayed to me. Note that the welcome banner only appears (so far) when I manually create a new item.
  • Just upgraded to 5.0.18. No change in the bad behavior previously reported.
  • Can you provide a Debug ID (different from a Report ID) from Zotero for a save that doesn't result in the item being selected?
  • Just upgraded to 5.0.19. And then to 5.0.20. So far, the bad behavior I have reported has not reappeared. Fingers crossed...
  • edited September 21, 2017
    Great, thanks. Someone else said that 5.0.19/5.0.20 fixed similar problems for them, so we'll see.
  • It is 3:42 AM George Mason time. What are you doing still up and working?
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