online versus local versions of library / Restoring accidental delete

gvdbroek

Hi,
I accidentally deleted a collection in my library and this was synced with my online database. I restored the collection from a backup as described here: https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data
This way, I could return to an earlier version of the library locally, and I found back most of the accidentally deleted files, which I copied into a different collection (with different name).

Now, question: I would like to restore the status of my library as it was synched online (because I made additional changes that I would like to keep), but not delete the collection that I restored locally.

Can I do this by syncing with the online copy? In other words, will zotero recognize that I added items and then merge these with the information from the online sync?

Thanks for your advice!

adamsmith

This really depends on the details. Did you delete the collection with items or just the collection? And when you say "deleted files" you mean "deleted Zotero items"?

gvdbroek

Thank you adam, for the quick response! In the Zotero user interface, I clicked on a map/folder (I think this is a collection? in which I have grouped thematically related references). I pressed Delete (meaning to actually delete a single entry rather than the whole collection but I had clicked wrong). I work with links to pdfs that are stored locally and not synced with the Zotero server, so what I need to restore are the zotero entries that point to the local folder with pdfs. This is also the only thing that I sync through the Zotero servers.
I guess my question at the moment is mostly what happens if I sync now with the local backup – does the local version override the online version, or vice versa, or is a merge made? I do not want to mess things up by introducing conflicts, so if this is a tricky step that could damage my library, I’ll rather use a screenshot and look up the 30 references again. Sigh…

adamsmith

a merge is made, but you should also note that deleting a collection will _not_ actually delete items locally. It just deletes the collection as an organizational unit. The items are still in "My Library"