Removing translator files permanently

jgr

Is it possible to permanently remove the translator files in the Zotero directory? When I remove them they are restored the next time I start FF/Zotero.
Using Zotero mostly as a database I hardly need them and they slow things down when I synchronize my Zotero folder with my USB drive via a slow USB connection.

Tjowens

The translators have a minimal impact on performance. With that noted, If you don't want your translators restored you can turn off the Automatically check for updated translators preference. You can find it on the general tab of the preferences pane. Keep in mind that you will not receive updates to any of the translators that you are actually using.

jgr

Thank you for your answer, Tjowens. This is really a minor problem and Zotero performance should hardly be affected. It is just that my USB 1.1 connection takes quite a while to write all 273 translator files on my USB disk.
I tried to disable the Automatically check for updated translators preference. The files, however, are still restored everytime I start FF.

dstillman

Yeah, disabling that pref won't do it. You might be able to accomplish this by removing the translators.zip file from the Zotero extension directory (extensions/zotero@chnm.gmu.edu) in your Firefox profile. There's a chance that'll just throw an error on startup, but it might work. Alternatively, substituting an empty (or single-file) ZIP file should do the trick.

If this works, you'd have to do it whenever you installed a new version of Zotero.

jgr

Thank you, Dan, that solved my problem. No error on startup even with a missing (i.e. renamed) translators.zip file.
Amazing how fast and responsive this forum is.