Zotero Sync Just Duplicated All Folders & Files on Sync to New Desktop...

edward.henry

Friends;

I just acquired a new office desktop & got Zotero loaded on it. I then purchased some extra storage via Zotero. Once I got everything syncing from my laptop (which had never been synced with my online account) every folder and file (PDFs) in My Library duplicated themselves. This issue is now transferring over to my desktop as the sync transpires. I've read a lot about this problem via the forums and see mine as somewhat unique since I've never exported the library, etc.

Can anyone help here? What should I do and can I remove these duplicates without corrupting the organization of My Library?

dstillman

There's no way for this to happen without your using export/import at some point — syncing just can't create duplicates like this on its own.

If you show the Date Added column in the middle pane and then sort by title, you can see the dates that the different sets of items were created. You'll see that one set all has the same date (and it won't be from the time of the sync). You likely did an export/import at some point in the past and just hadn't fully synced all your computers.

Immediately after such an import, you can fix this by sorting by Date Added and just deleting one of the sets of items. If you've worked on items from both sets — e.g., by using in word processor document or putting in different collections — or you aren't sure if each set is complete, you're better off merging the items using the Duplicate Items view (or manually by selecting two items and choosing Merge Items from the context menu, though that would take longer if you have to do it for many items).

edward.henry

Ah yes. I think I transferred from old laptop to new laptop at some point. I think i remember another issue with this now. Once I was deleting a duplicate folder and the internal folders for the original disappeared. Will any of the above issues cause this to happen too? What is the SAFEST and quickest way forward now?

dstillman

I explain your options above. Merging, either via Duplicate Items or manual selection, is the safest option at this point — that'll keep the remaining items in all collections and linked to all word processor documents where they were used.

edward.henry

OK, that is very helpful. Thanks so much for your time and insight dstillman!

audriejb

Can I merge or delete a duplicate collection that resulted when I tried to transfer my computer based Zotero files to my new computer? Or do I have to merge each duplicate item one at a time?

Could you please explain why several people have said not to delete duplicates but only;merge them?

dstillman

As I say above, if you ended up with duplicates from an import, you can just sort by Date Added and delete all the items imported at the same time. You should never use export to transfer a library to a new computer.

There's nothing wrong with deleting duplicate items from an import, since usually that's something that was done by mistake (e.g., a repeated import, or an export/import when all you needed to do was sync). The reason you would want to merge instead of delete is if you were already working with the imported items in Zotero and/or a word processor document, since you may have already filed items into specific collections or created citations pointing to them in your documents, and deleting them would remove them from the collections and break citation links.