Upgrade StorageGroup library disappeared from desktop on first sync
Sorry if this has been addressed elsewhere, but I can't find a similar issue.
Today I created a new Group Library by clicking the "New Group" (brown folder with green plus) from my desktop version of Zotero (version 5). Zotero opened a tab and had me log-in online to create the group, I created it, and it was visible online and on my standalone Zotero on my desktop.
Then I added 10 articles from a .ris file to my desktop group and found the pdfs and attached them. From online I invited two other people to the group and left it alone. One of the other users accepted a request to the group, but let me know the folder was empty. No problem. I synced from my desktop, and right in front of my eyes all 10 articles disappeared. I couldn't find a trace of them anywhere on my desktop or online. I restarted (worth a try!) and nothing. I went to my Zotero storage files (which I keep on the cloud separately) and sorted for files created today and all my pdfs were still there. So I just rebuilt the little group library using them. It's syncing normally now.
Yesterday I followed this same workflow with a different group, two different Zotero users, and 80 articles/pdfs that luckily were created without any kind of problem. But now I'm nervous. Is there a better order of operations for creating such a group to prevent this sort of problem in the future? Is there something I did that would have accidentally caused the articles to be deleted? Or was this just a fluke error?
Thank you!
Today I created a new Group Library by clicking the "New Group" (brown folder with green plus) from my desktop version of Zotero (version 5). Zotero opened a tab and had me log-in online to create the group, I created it, and it was visible online and on my standalone Zotero on my desktop.
Then I added 10 articles from a .ris file to my desktop group and found the pdfs and attached them. From online I invited two other people to the group and left it alone. One of the other users accepted a request to the group, but let me know the folder was empty. No problem. I synced from my desktop, and right in front of my eyes all 10 articles disappeared. I couldn't find a trace of them anywhere on my desktop or online. I restarted (worth a try!) and nothing. I went to my Zotero storage files (which I keep on the cloud separately) and sorted for files created today and all my pdfs were still there. So I just rebuilt the little group library using them. It's syncing normally now.
Yesterday I followed this same workflow with a different group, two different Zotero users, and 80 articles/pdfs that luckily were created without any kind of problem. But now I'm nervous. Is there a better order of operations for creating such a group to prevent this sort of problem in the future? Is there something I did that would have accidentally caused the articles to be deleted? Or was this just a fluke error?
Thank you!
I don't think I'm misremembering - it disappeared in front of my eyes (as I mentioned). I did fail to mention two other things, however.
1) I had actually deleted two articles because I accidentally imported them twice, so I did have those two articles in the trash when I went looking for my disappeared articles.
2) When I rebuilt my library from the pdfs in my storage, Zotero created new copies of those pdfs in the same folder - in new randomly named individual folders, of course. So I had identical files in the storage folder that were created about an hour apart. I never deleted the original pdfs or folders, but they're like ghosts - they aren't attached to any articles in my library. Go figure.
What's the name of a folder that's no longer linked to your library? Note that items in your personal library and group libraries are separate, so if you created those in your personal library first, you're just seeing copies from the other library.
There's no code in Zotero to delete an item and not also delete the file on disk.