folder went missing...

Hello,
A few minutes after adding a new item to a folder, I suddenly found out the whole folder was missing...
The folder contained many tens of items that were accumulated during several years.
I searched all the other folders, including trash, to make sure it was not inadvertently moved, to no avail...nothing. It does not appear also on the web version of Zotero.
All that had happened a few minutes ago.
I'll appreciate you urgent help.
Thanks,
GL
  • Check your database integrity from the Advanced → Files and Folders pane of the Zotero preferences to see if it finds any problems.

    If not, if you’re sure it’s not within another collection, most likely you just deleted it by mistake. You should be able to restore it from your last automatic backup.
  • Oh, if it doesn’t appear online and it did before, you definitely just deleted it by mistake (or moved it and haven’t found it).
  • And to be clear, this would just be the collection. Unless you used Delete Collection and Items, the items would all still exist in the library root. (Otherwise the items would be in the trash.)
  • Hello,
    First of all, thanks a lot for your prompt reply.
    I did search the trash items and the folder is not there.
    And the folder does not appear online.
    I certainly did not use "Delete items and collection". Something went wrong without I was doing anything...
    So what can I do now?
    (Unfortunately I quit zotero after it happened in and immediately logged in again
    -through the icon on my computer, no online - and I understand now it may compromise the possibility of recuperating the folder...I hope not.
    As for your advice to go to Advanced → Files and Folders pane of the Zotero preferences and check the integrity of files, I did that but did not see anything that could help.
    I don't understand how a whole folder with so many items can evaporate in a second ...
    What else can be done?
    Thanks,
    GL

    P.S.
    I remembered on of the items that I saw this morning on the missing folder a minute before it disappeared and I checked for it individually in on my library's files...and it's gone...nothing, as if it never existed....
  • P.S. 2
    I have a zotero.sqlite1.bak file on my computer (on C://Users/my name/Zotero (85MB) that was last modified (automatically) two days ago.
    Can it help?
  • I did search the trash items and the folder is not there.
    Deleted collections don't appear in the trash.

    But your online library shows no recent deletions of either collections or items, so there's a very good chance you just moved the collection somewhere by mistake and the items still exist in the library root.

    What was the name of the collection? (You can email it to support@zotero.org with a link to this thread if you don't want to post it here.)
    So what can I do now?
    I explained above what you would do if you had actually lost data — you could restore from your last automatic backup, which would be either zotero.sqlite.bak or zotero.sqlite.1.bak, depending on whether the timestamp is before or after this occurred. But you should hold off, since I don't think it's necessary — based on your online library, there's simply no deleted data to restore. You should make backups of the .bak files immediately, though, if you haven't yet, because the longer you wait, the more likely they are are to be overwritten.
  • edited October 26, 2020
    OK, so it looks like you somehow renamed a collection by mistake.

    A collection with the name you sent via email doesn't exist in your online library. But no collections in your online library have been deleted since October 5th. There's simply no way for a collection to be deleted from the online library without a record of a deletion, so if that collection had previously synced up to the online library (which it certainly would've if it's existed for years) and you've synced since (which you appear to have done), the only possibility is really that the collection was renamed.

    And that appears to be the case. You created several collections a few minutes before you posted here, but one other collection that was modified at the same time and currently has a similar name was actually created two years ago, and it contains four versions of the item you said via email was an item that would be in the missing collection.

    You don't need our help to determine this. Just search in the library root for the item title you provided via email. You'll see four copies, and if you check the collections containing each one, you'll find the collection in question.
  • Eureka!
    I followed your instructions and I did find the folder!
    As you said, it turned out that I changed the folder's name inadvertently (instead of adding to it a sub collection).
    Happily, I learned a few new things about Zotero´s functionalities along the way :)
    Thanks again for your great help!

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