Error ID: 1093166052 -- upload of RIS and BibTex data failed

I am trying to upload some RIS and BibTex files and keep getting error notifications that the files cannot be imported. When I generated an error ID to report, I saw that the error log also referred to the "Revolts" group library which my former research group leaders has not updated in ages. He ran out of storage, but I do not see how this should affect my uploading data to my own library. Thanks so much for your help.
  • Don't worry about other messages in the error report. (That's why we don't have people post the full reports here — they're mostly not relevant.)
    [JavaScript Error: "TypeError: translation.newItems is undefined" {file: "chrome://zotero/content/fileInterface.js" line: 545}]
    Can you provide a Debug ID (different from a Report ID) for an import attempt that fails?
  • (Also, for future reference, "upload" isn't the right word here, and is likely to confuse people. Zotero is a program on your computer. You're importing RIS/BibTeX data, not uploading it.)
  • Thanks so much! And here is the ID you requested:

    D655587126

    The data (RIS in this case) came from a colleague's ZOTERO.
  • There may be something wrong with your installation. Can you 1) make a backup of the 'translators' directory in your Zotero data directory and 2) reset translators from the Advanced → Files and Folders pane of the Zotero preferences, and then try again?
  • I think what we are looking for is an XML parsing / syntax error?
  • edited December 9, 2020
    No, nothing to do with that. Really, we'll handle interpreting the error reports. You shouldn't try to read meaning into them if you're not a Zotero developer.
  • That fixed it, thanks so much!
  • Great. Can you zip up the old 'translators' directory you backed up and email it to support@zotero.org with a link to this thread?
  • Sure, I hope that 3.2 MB is ok for your mail box?
  • I can compress it further if needed.
  • I sent it as .zip attachment and got this notification:

    Your mail to recipient "support@zotero.org" has not been delivered due to attachments with active or executable content.

    Could I perhaps put it in one of my GITHUB repos for you and send a link?
  • Pretty sure that's not on our end, but yes, any link to the file (e.g., on Dropbox) will do.
  • (4)(+0000032): Translate: Parsing code for BetterBibTeX JSON (36a3b0b5-bad0-4a04-b79b-441c7cef77db, 2020-06-29 18:25:04)

    (2)(+0000004): Translate: Detect using BetterBibTeX JSON failed:
    TypeError: Zotero.BetterBibTeX is undefined
    Thanks for sending. This was caused by translators from the Better BibTeX extension still being installed in Zotero without the extension. That generally shouldn't happen (@emilianoeheyns, it looks like this happened fairly recently), but it did in your case, and Zotero wasn't properly handling invalid translators, resulting in all other translators breaking. I've fixed that for the next version of Zotero.
  • I am sorry to bother you again, but I have more carefully checked the recent imports now and although data came in, there are many mistakes. Journal papers, talks etc. come in as books, and "collaborators" are not imported at all. The info is in the exported RIS / BibTex files, for example:

    @misc{berger_vom_2020,
    type = {Virtuelle {Ausstellung}},
    title = {Vom {Kalten} {Krieg} zum europäischen {Umbruch}. {Das} {Institut} für {Europäische} {Geschichte} 1950–1990},
    shorttitle = {Vom {Kalten} {Krieg} zum europäischen {Umbruch}},
    url = {https://ausstellungen.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/ieg2020/},
    abstract = {Anlässlich seines 70. Jubiläums präsentiert das Leibniz-Institut für Europäische Geschichte (IEG) seit dem 12.09.2020 die Ausstellung »Vom Kalten Krieg zum europäischen Umbruch. Das Institut für Europäische Geschichte 1950–1990«. Die Ausstellung ist gleichzeitig als virtuelle Ausstellung zu sehen.

    Das IEG wurde fünf Jahre nach Kriegsende 1950 in Mainz gegründet. Ende 1952 konnte es in die für diesen Zweck wiederaufgebaute Domus Universitatis einziehen. Bei der Gründung des Instituts wirkten die »Besatzungsmächte« Frankreich und USA mit dem jungen Land Rheinland-Pfalz zusammen. Denn die französische Militärregierung förderte Einrichtungen, die der »Umerziehung« der Deutschen zur Demokratie und der Verständigung mit Frankreich dienen sollten. Auch die USA unterstützen Einrichtungen, die die junge Demokratie in Westdeutschland stärken sollten. Rheinland-Pfalz übernahm die Trägerschaft und schließlich auch die Finanzierung. Das neue Institut sollte die konfliktreiche historische Entwicklung Europas erforschen und so auf wissenschaftlichem Weg auf Frieden und Verständigung in Europa hinarbeiten.

    Die Ausstellung geht der Gründungsgeschichte des Instituts und seiner Entwicklung über vier Jahrzehnte nach. Von Anfang an war umstritten, worauf ein friedliches Europa gründen sollte, und welches Geschichtsbild das Institut in der Bundesrepublik befördern sollte. Die Präsentation thematisiert beispielsweise, wie das Institut seine »europäische Mission« legitimierte und mit der »Last« des Nationalsozialismus umging.

    Von Beginn an machte sich das Institut die Förderung junger Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler aus dem In- und Ausland zur Aufgabe. Das internationale Stipendienprogramm wurde zu einem Pfeiler des IEG. Angesichts der Wohnungsnot im Mainz der Nachkriegszeit war es selbstverständlich, dass das Institutsgebäude neben Bibliothek, Konferenzraum und Büros auch Wohnraum für wissenschaftliche Gäste und für die beiden Direktoren bot. Unter dem Dach der Domus Universitatis entfaltete sich das Arbeiten und Leben der Institutsangehörigen als Arbeits- und Konfliktgemeinschaft.

    Wie sich das Institut in der westdeutschen und in der internationalen Wissenschaftslandschaft etablierte, und wie es seit den 1960er-Jahren für Wissenschaftler/innen aus dem »Ostblock« ein »Fenster zum Westen« wurde, erzählt die Ausstellung anhand historischer Dokumente und Zeitzeugenberichte.},
    language = {de},
    author = {Berger, Joachim},
    collaborator = {Barget, Monika and Berger, Leonie and Cremer, Fabian and Hartmann, Susanne and Heumann, Anne and Latzke, Percy and Mainz, Stefanie and Mischner, Sabine and Müller, Barbara and Müller, Markus and Reichardt, Annette and Schwoch, Juliane and Schulze-Selmig, Jannik and Treins, Sophie and Vasques Filho, Demival and Weller, Thomas and Wilde, Linda de},
    month = sep,
    year = {2020},
    }

    But it still does not show up that way in ZOTERO. Last year, I went through the same process as we are generally updating the institutional Lit DB in December. I had absolutely no issues then. Is there anything I can do? Or will I need to wait for the next Zotero version?
  • edited December 11, 2020
    There's nothing missing there. Unless you're seeing something different from me, all the fields are being imported correctly. The only quirk is that it's imported as book rather than a journal article, but that's because your BibTeX file uses @misc, which is an undefined item type for which Zotero defaults to "book".
  • Oh, I guess collaborator is missing. I don't know if that's a standard BibTeX field — it doesn't look like we import it. @emilianoeheyns, who makes the Better BibTeX extension, would be able to say more on that (and you can consider reinstalling that, which might handle that field better).
  • edited December 11, 2020
    (But, to be clear, those wouldn't be cited anyway. If anything those would just become Contributor entries (and maybe they do with Better BibTeX), and those aren't used in citation styles.)
  • Yes, this is an example of "collaborator" missing. In the case of "collaborator", both RIS and BibTex do not catch the info when re-importing items into ZOTERO.

    Most of my issues, however, occur with the BibTex files, and it seems that we are already losing information when exporting them from our group libraries.

    "@misc" actually comes up in all BibTex-exported items that should be websites or blog-posts. The item above is also stored as "website" in our ZOTERO group library. When I export it as RIS, the type info is fine. Unfortunately, I need BibTex as this is what our administrations wants for import into their own system.

    I will be grateful for any advice @emilianoeheyns can give. I might need to re-install the Better BibTex extension.
  • BibTeX is from 1984. Websites didn't exist then, and so there's simply no item type form the. If your admin is OK with BibLaTeX (which Zotero also exports and which has the same structure) that would work.
  • BBT currently makes authors from the collaborators -- probably better to make those contributors instead.
  • edited December 11, 2020
    What is the 'collaborator' field, though? Is that something the stock BibTeX translator should be importing to Contributor?
  • edited December 11, 2020
    from the biblatex manual:
    collaborator: A secondary editor or a consultant to the editor.
    so maybe editor is better than contributor.
  • Is this only BibLaTeX, not BibTeX?

    The BibTeX translator handles all BibTeX import, including BibLaTeX fields, but both BibTeX and BibLaTeX seem to export 'collaborator'. Not sure why it's not imported.
  • Actually it looks like the BibLaTeX translator doesn't export 'collaborator' — it exports 'editoratype' set to 'collaborator'.
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