Offline Use

padilla12

Hi. I'm using a Mac, and would like to know where the Z database (that is, all the entered data) is when I am offline. I get to Zotero Database/zotero.sqlite, but am not seeing my references pop up.

In addition, if I were to add to (say) notes while offline, would Zotero update once I went online?

noksagt

You can use firefox (and therefore zotero) without an internet connection & this is the easiest way to interact with the database.

If you are a developer who wishes to use the database, refer to:
http://dev.zotero.org/docs/accessing_zotero_data_using_an_sqlite_client
and
http://www.sqlite.org/

padilla12

Thanks; I'm not so sure what this all means, but best I can gather, outside of Firefox being open, Zotero would seem to be read-only. If so then it's not for me-I want to be able to access this as if it were (say) Endnote, w/o an internet connection, add/delete notes and then have the new version of my library update when I open Firefox.

I guess what I could do, is work offline using Endnote, then when I have Firefox open, export from Endnote to Zotero, and have just the updated material added? Hopefully, Zotero would not import all the references, just whatever had been changed/deleted in Endnote.

Thanks for your help.

noksagt

Zotero only works within Firefox, but Firefox does work without an internet connection. Because of this, you can still use Zotero (within Firefox) to add/delete notes when you have no internet connection.

(There's no reason to use Endnote instead just because you're offline. If, for whatever reason, you did this, Zotero would import EVERYTHING that you exported from Endnote (including any duplicates).)

(Software developers "can" read and write to the Zotero DB with external utilities (as it is in a standard format), but "should" only read from it with these utilities (and use the Zotero API (offered through the firefox extension) to write to it). This isn't what YOU were asking about, but may clarify things for potential developers.)

padilla12

Thanks so much!