Problem with switching to running Zotero instance(macOS)

ienoch

When a Zotero instance is already opened, if I use alfred to "launch" Zotero(or run from Launchpad), I mean I want to switch to the Zotero instance which I have already opened, there will be two Zotero icons in my dock and the window will not be switched to the old running one. The new icon will pop-up. And sometimes I will received the error message "A copy of Zotero is already open..."

This problem not only occurred in 5.0.23 but in 5.0.24. Since my Zotero is downloaded from official website and I have already checked [1] and [2], i.e. I have already deleted and reinstalled Zotero again and again, but nothing take effect.

Besides, if I quit the old instance directly, I could not exit the new instance normally and there is no Zotero process in Activity Monitor. Since this instance do not have user interface, and I can't open a new Zotero instance through launchpad, the only thing I can do is restart my computer to launch my Zotero.

Some background information here:
Report ID: 1023767573
macOS High Sierra
shasum for 5.0.24: c1dfc596acd4263498e992f4532ed4879f17037bd0b04d4bcba761e4abed9c5d26968a38fd878971091dff061d9ed702101f86f3d62755dc97ea5d3d9e7bc8d7


Any guidance would be very much appreciated.

Update(2017.11.01): After I update macOS to 10.13.1, the duplicate Zotero could be force quit now.

dstillman

Yeah, this is new in High Sierra — I get the same from LaunchBar, and the same things happens when opening a RIS file.

We'll see what we can do.

o.renaut

Hello,
I have the same issue too, whenever I mistakenly open Zotero using Spotlight for example, when it is already open : two icons appear, one being impossible to quit even by force !

(using High Sierra 10.13)

Thank you in advance for this issue.

dstillman

This should be fixed in the latest 5.0 Beta, and the fix will be included in Zotero 5.0.26 soon.

ienoch

Great! Thanks so much!

abodywithoutorgans

Same, I also have this issue and when it occurs I am not able to shutdown or restart my laptop—a hard shutdown is necessary.

bwiernik

Try the Beta version linked above.

abodywithoutorgans

Thank you, but I will wait for the stable, non-beta version.

jrgarrigues

@abodywithoutorgans

I've been having the same issue with my MacBook Pro/High Sierra locking up on me, but haven't associated it with zotero. Is your computer freezing only when you use zotero, or when you have zotero open? I just reinstalled zotero on a fresh install of High Sierra and will be watching to see if symptoms recur.

Thanks
John

dstillman

@ienoch, @o.renaut, @abodywithoutorgans, the issue with a second copy of Zotero trying to open is fixed in 5.0.25, available now.

(@abodywithoutorgans, when this happened you would just have needed to force-quit the second copy from the Dock.)

@jrgarrigues: This thread is about an issue where a second copy of Zotero tried to open if you launched Zotero again via Spotlight or opened a RIS file while Zotero was already open. If you're having other trouble that you think is linked to Zotero, you should start a new thread (but we have no reason to believe Zotero causes any sort of instability in High Sierra).

jrgarrigues

@dstillman - Sorry, I didn't mean to derail the conversation. I've been running Zotero for two days without any of the symptoms I mentioned above; so I agree that it's not this product that was causing my problem.