Odd and annoying bug

demetriodn

Hello there,
I've been a Zotero user for 1 year now, and i am very happy with it. I even installed the beta version and i've been using it for the past 4 months without any problems.

Today i decided to try exporting a database from Endnote to Zotero (not MY database. I'll call my database dbA and the new database dbB). Because i didn't want these two databases to mix with each other i went to Preferences -> Advanced -> Storage location and created a new folder to put this Endnote database.

After restarting firefox i opened Zotero and saw there were no entries, just as i wanted. Then I exported the new database in Endnote in RIS format (i followed zotero tutorial) and imported it in Zotero. It worked fine.

The problem is that, after a while (2 minutes?), my old database (dbA) appeared also in the list, mixed with dbB. Even the labels and collections from dbA appeared.

I thought it was odd, and to assure my old database was OK i went again to Preferences -> Advanced -> Storage location and selected the folder where my old database was and restarted firefox.

It opened OK, but after a while again (1 minute?) the new database (dbB) appeared automaticaly.

Then i uninstalled zotero from firefox and installed again. I deleted the new databases folders i had imported from Endnote (dbB) and copyed a backup i had of my old database (dbA) to the computer.

After locating the freshly copied database in the recently reinstalled zotero it happened again: after 1 minute dbB appeared together with dbA in Zotero list, with all the tags.

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this bug? Was it already reported?

Help, please.
Thanks in advance,
Demétrio Nicolaidis

adamsmith

Well, to be honest - I'm not sure this is a "bug". You tried some, frankly, hackery with your databases that you thought would work but that is certainly not recommended anywhere in the documentation or the forum. The interaction between Zotero and Firefox is a little more intricate than you make it out to be.

If you want to work with two different libraries, the recommended solution (which _is_ mentioned here) is to use different Firefox profiles:
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Managing+profiles

dstillman

Sync settings are stored with the Firefox preferences in your Firefox profile, not in the Zotero data directory. When you switched data directories, you didn't change your sync settings or disable auto-sync, and so Zotero merged your imported database with your database on the server.

demetriodn

Thanks for the answers, i think i got it. I'll try to use different firefox profiles.
But, how can i "reset" my default firefox profile so i can use my old database with it(the one from my backup)?

dstillman

Disable auto-sync, replace your data directory with the one from your backup, open Firefox, and Restore to Server in the Sync->Reset pane of the Zotero preferences.