Import library into Zotero given I have backup of previous Zotero/ folder

I recently upgraded from Ubuntu 18.04 to Ubuntu 20.04, and had backed up my entire `/home` on a separated HDD. I also separately exported my Zotero library.

And, now when I am trying to import it, I realize that csv import is not available, which is very annoying since there was no warning when I exported to csv.

Anyway, I do have my entire ~/Zotero and ~/.zotero folder with me, which includes all the 100+ pdfs inside the `storage` folder, and it also has the sqlite.bak files, among other directories like "pipes", "locate", etc.

I wish to know how can I make all those items show up inside the Zotero application automatically, I believe if I copy paste all the files directly it might probably break the app, so I am posting here to ask first.
  • If you simply upgraded your OS, I'm not sure why you would lose the contents of your home folder, but if you did, you just need to put those directories back in the same place.

    https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data#restoring_your_zotero_data_from_a_backup1

    An export isn't a backup, and CSV isn't even remotely a proper bibliographic exchange format — it's solely to get data into Excel or similar.
  • Thanks dstillman, that link you gave worked for me! I personally feel that it is natural to believe that if i can export data from zotero app to file X, then I should be able to import data from file X back into the app.

    In any case, I admit that export is not the same as backup, and I should have more careful! Thanks again for your prompt response!
  • edited July 14, 2020
    I personally feel that it is natural to believe that if i can export data from zotero app to file X, then I should be able to import data from file X back into the app.
    That's generally the case, but it doesn't make sense in the context of CSV. Unlike all the other formats Zotero exports, CSV is just a general-purpose file format. We can export CSV data in a particular way, but a CSV file that someone is trying to import could be in any structure, and we can't safely import that.
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