Recover folder history?

nadiamatringe
Hello,

I am writing concerning a potential hacking issue.

The files in my Zotero library are classified in different folders. Some weeks ago, an entire folder (which contained multiple subfolders) was deleted from my library. The hundreds of files which were in this folder went into the "unfiled items" section of the library and I had to entirely reconstruct the folder (which I have not finished yet, as it was so big).
Since I had not deleted this folder myself, I went online and had a look at the IP addresses that had logged into my Zotero. There was one which I did not recognize and which had loged in between the time the folder existed, and the time it had been deleted. Unfortunately, I did not think about saving this IP address and when I went back to check it again a few hours later, it had disappeared. The reason is that there is an option to "delete key" or remove all signs of a connection in the Feeds/API list.
I was wondering if you know whether there is any possibility to recover the history of a particular folder in Zotero, so I could try to find again to which IP address the deletion of the folder could be connected.

Thanks and best wishes,

Nadia
  • dstillman
    edited March 13, 2022
    No one hacked into your account. The collection was deleted from a Zotero installation at the university you've synced from many times. People delete collections by mistake all the time, and that's almost certainly all that happened here.

    Immediately after this happens (or after syncing a given computer for the first time after this happens), you should be able to restore the collection from the last automatic backup. An upcoming version of Zotero will make it possible to restore a deleted collection from the trash.

    (It's also fairly normal to not recognize given IP addresses due to the limitations of IP geolocation databases and the idiosyncracies of network operator IP addresses.)
  • dstillman
    an entire folder (which contained multiple subfolders)
    On this, though, only one collection was deleted in the last few months, in February.
  • nadiamatringe
    Hello,

    Many thanks for your response. Yes, the collection "Accounting History-Medieval/Early Modern" was deleted in February. That is the one I am talking about. It was deleted from my office computer while I was at home.

    The same thing happened to me with various Dropbox files which were deleted from my office computer while I was at home. One time a file got deleted from my office computer while I was in France.

    I overall have an issue with files being deleted from my office computer. I just wanted to check the IP address with you. When I checked the list, a different IP address from my home IP address appeared, and then a few hours later the key had been deleted.

    Thanks for your help and for bringing some clarification on that issue (at least regarding the source of the deletion)

    Best wishes,

    Nadia
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