Zotero *always* crashes when I try to change data directory

babyseal
Zotero recently began insisting that I change my library directory away from Dropbox as it can potentially corrupt my database. I have had a Zotero Unlimited plan for the past few years so it's redundant anyway; this is fine. However, after I designate a new, non-Dropbox directory, Zotero *always* crashes before shutting down (I've tried eight times now), and it when it restarts it thinks the data folder is the old Dropbox one. So effectively I am never able to change it. Is there a good solution to fixing this? (My data directory is about 50GB.)
  • dstillman
    What do you mean by "crashing"?

    If you just move the data directory to the default location ("Zotero" in your home directory), Zotero will prompt you to use that when it starts up.
  • babyseal
    Thanks for your answer.

    Crashing means the program exits (I forgot the error message exactly but it says there was a problem and it had to close).

    I tried closing Zotero, moving all files to the default location, deleting the old directory, and then restarting Zotero.

    It seemed to read my database file okay, but could not locate any of my PDFs that I moved to the default Zotero/ location. I don't think [these instructions](https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/files_not_syncing) apply since it's not a syncing problem - all my files are there physically. I used to use Zotfile, though now since it's incompatible Zotero seems to have taken over its functionality as there has been no problem. So I'm not sure why it won't recognize the files I moved (again, abut 50 GB so I would not try to tell Zotero where each file is individually.)

    I've moved back everything to my original Dropbox folder and it works fine. Any thoughts? Thanks.

  • dstillman
    I used to use Zotfile, though now since it's incompatible Zotero seems to have taken over its functionality as there has been no problem.
    It's not incompatible — you just need to install it into Zotero itself, not Firefox.

    If you move the entire "Zotero" directory, you should still be able to open the files unless you've somehow turned them into linked files that are linked to the 'storage' directory (which would be quite incorrect).

    Also, you should just be moving the entire directory, not any individual files, so there shouldn't be an old directory to delete.

    Can you move that directory back to the default location and then provide a Debug ID for an attempt to open a file that's missing?
Sign In or Register to comment.