Using the same zotero data on multiple profiles on one computer

cricketbird

This may be more of a Mac / file permission question:

I'm trying to set up a new "slim" profile on my computer, free from chatting and games and whatnot.

Here's what I've done:
-Moved my Zotero folder to my computer's Shared directory
-Set the permissions of the Zotero folder to "read and write" (including all subdirectories) for both my main account and my slim account.
-Set Zotero to point to the new location in both accounts (Zotero>preferences>advanced).

However, now my Slim profile can now access it, but my main profile can't. Firefox tells me "The Zotero database cannot be opened. Please make sure you have read and write permissions to all files in the Zotero data directory."

Any suggestions?

My setup: Mac OS 10.5, Zotero beta, firefox 3.5

tracybecerra

I have the same problem! Did u find a solution? I am stuck.

mark

A sure-fire way is to use Zotero's synchronization function to duplicate all content in both profiles. This obviously results in an extra copy of the Zotero data on your hard disk, but that's not so bad from a backup point of view. Additionally, you can be sure that you get no problems with file permissions.

tracybecerra

Thanks for the comment Mark. I was indeed able to sync the information before I had this problem so I can see my files through my profile library on the zotero website. How do I make it accessible again at the bottom of my firefox window? I am willing to get the file permissions, I just don't know where, how, or why this message came up? (I had zotero for 4 months and it was until I started loading 2.0, syncing, word processor integration, did it do this)

mark

Perhaps this page in the kb helps?
http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/troubleshooting_sync_errors

dstillman

I don't think Tracy's issue has anything to do with syncing. If Zotero can't write to the Zotero data directory, that's the error it'll give, but that has nothing to do with Zotero itself.

mark

Thanks, I wasn't very clear. The permissions issue is caused, I think, by the fact that both profiles point to the same location, while one of them doesn't have sufficient permissions. In my first post I proposed a perhaps not-so-elegant workaround: just maintain two separate Zotero data directories and keep them synced via Zotero sync. To make it so, one should make sure that the two profiles no longer point to the same location; and after that, getting the data in the new profile by using 'restore from server' (description on the sync troubleshooting page).

tracybecerra

Mark, I followed your instructions and instead of resetting, like u suggested, I just changed the "data directory location", under the zotero "preferences", to the "firefox profile directory" instead of the "custom" option. I think zotero didn't like the location I was sending my backup files.

Thanks!

PP Belmont

Hello,
I assume the "data directory location" change may have produced the desired result, in my case I changed the permissions and owner status of the directory properties (in windows 7), and the problem disappeared. The cause seems to originate from a System permission change more than a Zotero error.