The page I linked to is entirely up to date and tells you exactly what to do. This is just troubleshooting — for a problem no one else is reporting, so it unfortunately requires some more advanced steps. Once you create a second profile, the profile manager should appear when you start Zotero normally. You can delete the second profile once we're done troubleshooting and won't need to use the profile manager after that.
Your Zotero data shouldn't be in any danger, but you should obviously have a backup of your Zotero data directory regardless.
(One slight adjustment to my earlier instructions: when you create the new profile, if you have your data directory in the default location ("Zotero" in your home directory), it will use that data directory by default and you'll see your existing data. Before setting a new data directory as explained on the linked page, check if the problem still occurs in the new profile when it's using your existing data — then we'll know right away if it's a problem with the profile or the data directory.)
Created "test" profile. (Note: Zotero must be closed before command line -P produces anything discernible.) From "profile manager" with "test" profile selected, opened Zotero. Opens with my existing data. No change in behavior. However, note that creating a new item did work as expected one time, immediately after opening Zotero.
Now I'll try to set "a new data directory as explained on the linked page"... Created a new data directory "Zotero test" alongside the original "Zotero". While in Zotero, set the data directory to "Zotero test". Closed and repoened Zotero. Welcome messages were displayed. I have manually added 7 new items of different sorts and I have downloaded 6 new books via FIrefox from Google books and Internet Archive.
So far, behavior in the "test" profile using a new database in "Zotero test" appears to be as expected.
OK, we're making progress. So when using the original data directory in a new profile, you were consistently seeing the problem? And to clarify, was that the welcome screen being displayed when you created a new item or just a new item not being automatically selected?
Yes : new profile with existing data = the problems persist. In that combination, as best as I can report, new items are created without being selected. Sometimes when that happens, the Welcome blurb appears in the item list pane. However, when this Welcome blurb appears, the data in the metadata pane does not reset to either a blank form or to the collection's item count.
Wait, does this only happen when you have a search term entered in the search bar? Because that I can reproduce — in some cases with the welcome banner — but it's not something you've mentioned all the times I've asked for the exact steps from Zotero startup you were taking to reproduce this. (A screen recording, which I suggested in early September, also would've shown this.)
This also had nothing to do with a particular 5.0.x version but would've existed in all 5.0 versions. I suspect 5.0.17 or 5.0.18 was simply the first 5.0 version you used, so the earlier version you were saying worked properly was a 4.0 release.
In any case, this should be fixed in the latest 5.0 Beta, and the fix will be included in 5.0.24.
Well, yes, a search term would be entered in the search bar -- indeed, in practice, a search term is *always* in the search bar. Otherwise, one would see only the first few items, and who would manually scroll through thousands of items looking for any particular one many times a day? From my perspective, the presence of a search term in the search bar is nearly an invariant condition and thus not a variable step. I kinda feel like the fish when someone said, well, you didn't tell me that there was water in your fishbowl!
I guess it would be a good idea to give users the ability to post screen shots to this forum.
In any event, I am grateful that you have persevered with me and I am happy to hear that 5.0.24 may resolve these issues. Thank you.
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Your Zotero data shouldn't be in any danger, but you should obviously have a backup of your Zotero data directory regardless.
(One slight adjustment to my earlier instructions: when you create the new profile, if you have your data directory in the default location ("Zotero" in your home directory), it will use that data directory by default and you'll see your existing data. Before setting a new data directory as explained on the linked page, check if the problem still occurs in the new profile when it's using your existing data — then we'll know right away if it's a problem with the profile or the data directory.)
Now I'll try to set "a new data directory as explained on the linked page"... Created a new data directory "Zotero test" alongside the original "Zotero". While in Zotero, set the data directory to "Zotero test". Closed and repoened Zotero. Welcome messages were displayed. I have manually added 7 new items of different sorts and I have downloaded 6 new books via FIrefox from Google books and Internet Archive.
So far, behavior in the "test" profile using a new database in "Zotero test" appears to be as expected.
This also had nothing to do with a particular 5.0.x version but would've existed in all 5.0 versions. I suspect 5.0.17 or 5.0.18 was simply the first 5.0 version you used, so the earlier version you were saying worked properly was a 4.0 release.
In any case, this should be fixed in the latest 5.0 Beta, and the fix will be included in 5.0.24.
I guess it would be a good idea to give users the ability to post screen shots to this forum.
In any event, I am grateful that you have persevered with me and I am happy to hear that 5.0.24 may resolve these issues. Thank you.