Upgrade StorageAny way to speed up zotero?
Hello, I love this program and I want to say first thank you for all your efforts in creating and making it better these past few years. I think this is really a killer application, far superior to many competitors for which we have to pay.
I have a question though. It's very basic and it may appear a little dumb -- I'm not a tech person. I googled if the other people come across with similar issues, I also searched this forum, but I couldn't find one.
My problem is that zotero runs really slowly in my firefox. I have Windows Vista and the latest version of Firefox and Zotero. It's been slow from before, and I think a part of the culprit is the volumes in my library with a number of webshots. But I have no intention to deleting them .. Everything else seems to work just fine (except that I haven't a chance to look into syncing yet) but this slowness is driving me crazy. it's slow when it opens .. and it's slow when I'm importing bib data from library databases ... it's slow when I move data between different folders in the library.
Does anyone have the same problem and is there any way to speed this up? I really, really appreciate any comments and suggestions you may have.
I have a question though. It's very basic and it may appear a little dumb -- I'm not a tech person. I googled if the other people come across with similar issues, I also searched this forum, but I couldn't find one.
My problem is that zotero runs really slowly in my firefox. I have Windows Vista and the latest version of Firefox and Zotero. It's been slow from before, and I think a part of the culprit is the volumes in my library with a number of webshots. But I have no intention to deleting them .. Everything else seems to work just fine (except that I haven't a chance to look into syncing yet) but this slowness is driving me crazy. it's slow when it opens .. and it's slow when I'm importing bib data from library databases ... it's slow when I move data between different folders in the library.
Does anyone have the same problem and is there any way to speed this up? I really, really appreciate any comments and suggestions you may have.
For myself, I've found that the trick of keeping a Zotero "window" open helps a little (i.e. a Firefox window with Zotero opened there). And I turned of automatic sync-ing which definitely did become a problem once my collection got larger (though you state that you don't have sync turned on, right?).
Also, what do you mean by keeping zotero "window" open? Do you mean it like use one Firefox window specifically designated to zotero activities? Does that really help?
I don't believe I have turned on syncing -- I haven't done it myself but I have been getting the zotero updates though.
Yes, I mean adding RAM (not storage space on your hard drive). You'd have to open the box to do that :-)
"use one Firefox window specifically designated to zotero activities"
Yes that's what I do now.
"Does that really help?"
Well, Dan Stallman says it does, and he should know best : http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/9540/zotero-very-slow-and-firefox-freezing/
Personally I don't think it's made much difference for me, except when it comes to avoiding reloading the Zotero pane.
"I don't believe I have turned on syncing -- I haven't done it myself but I have been getting the zotero updates though."
If you're using 1.0 rather than 2.0 then there's no "sync" in any case.
By "getting updates" I assume you mean that Firefox tells you it's installing an update. - that's a different matter altogether. In Zotero 2.0 you can choose to "sync" your library to the web-site and between computers. You'd normally have to set it up through the "Sync" tab of the options, and it sounds like you've not done that.
"Physical Memory" refers to buying an extra part for your computer - so called RAM - and putting it in. If your computer was relatively cheap or is a couple of years old that's relevant - if your RAM is less then 3GB increasing it will probably help. It's not very expensive these days. (I think in windows you can find out your RAM size either on the task manager (ctr+alt+del), or by right-clicking on Computer and selecting Property.
Finally, how large is your library? If you have a very large library, Zotero does slow down.
You can speed it up by disabling indexing (i.e. the fact that Zotero "remembers" what's in your pdfs).
Gears menu - preferences - search and set all the fields to 0.
For syncing see: http://www.zotero.org/support/sync
I'm using zotero version 2 -- latest one. Firefox automatically download the updates.
I add a few things each day to my library, and I've used zotero I think for two years. I don't know exact size of my library, but it has a lot of stuff in it!
it appears that my 1-year-old laptop does have 3gb RAM -- but perhaps I should add more .. though I wonder if I can. It appears that I ordered extra 1GB in addition to the original 2GB when I bought this laptop.
I checked my library and it has about 3000 references with webshots. So I don't think this is as big as what other people may have.
One area I would really like to have a speed booster is when I move items in between different libraries and subcategories. It's really slow. I think zotero would be much, much, much better if this speed issue is resolved. Any plans for future work in this "speed" area?
Or do I need more RAM -- but I checked my computer and I have 3GB. It's not such an old computer, only one year old.
Thank you so much!
Zotero does open instantaneously when you've had it open once. Certainly nothing in the "seconds" category.
There is absolutely no delay moving items around. And I'm on a slower machine.
(Btw. be a little careful with your terminology so that people will continue to understand what you are saying. There is just one library in Zotero. It can be organized using collections and subcollections. Usually, if you're dragging an item from one collection or the library to another one, you're not moving it, you're adding it to another collection (i.e. afterwards the same item will be in both collections.) So your "main" library is your only library and it's not just larger than the collections it has all items you have in Zotero in it.)
Dan has mentioned repeatedly that the dev team is always working on performance, as is the FF team.
If anybody else have any clue as to how to speed things up I really would like to hear it.
Thanks!
I had similar problems. Opening Firefox and then Zotero need a log time to load everything.
My solution was to disable everything in the Prefences/Sync Options. I'm also not using it, but the options are on by default.
(Thanks alandsloane)
br chris
Sorry, Dan is absolutly right. I activated that options again and its working with the same,fast speed.
I hope that I can resolve this problem one way or the other. I don't want to even think about going back to Endnote!
>Moving items in between collections is "seconds" category, too, for me.
>>How many items? A single item? 45 items? What format is the Quick Copy setting set to in the Export pane of your Zotero preferences? Does changing the format change the delay? And when exactly does this delay occur?
I usually move only a few items, 1 or 2, at most 20, rarely more than 50, but I do the smaller moves quite frequently.
Quick Copy setting in Export pane is all unchecked.
I changed the default format from Chicago (note without bib) to MLA but I didn't see much change.
One thing perhaps I should mention is that I change my format often. But I don't know if it's default or temporary changes. I do this by right-clicking on items, "create bib from this item," then choosing a style. Is this a problem?
The delay occurs when I drag the item from the central column to the left column to collections, after I drop off the items, there is a moment of "freeze." Firefox sometimes show (not responding) sign on the top but when you wait it usually disappears and I can work again.
I already mentioned the delay at loading, not just at the startup but when switching between collections.
Taking a snapshot from websites are really slow too.
About Extensions: You never know - everyone can write and submit an extension to FF, so there's little guarantee. But you can try this out by disabling all add-ons except Zotero and the restarting FF.
Does the number of items in the target collection affect the delay? In other words, do you get the same delay dragging to an empty collection?
You can also try disabling other Firefox extensions and checking your DB integrity in the Advanced pane fo the Zotero prefs, though neither seems likely to be related to this.
I just tried it and got it, here it is. D1733338180.
I also started to wonder, having multiple language materials may be causing this problem. I have some Japanese language materials in my library. It will be hard to delete them.
Over time I noticed zotero got frustratingly slow (5-30 secs) on basic operations like editing an item, capturing a webpage snapshot or attaching a file with PDF indexing on.
I run zotero 2.0b7.6 with 1000 items on firefox 3.5.7, WinXP and a very old Pentium 4 Mobile 1.6GHz and 1GB RAM.
I have now tested the write speed of the USB flash drive and it averaged out at about 1MBps for larger files and even less for smaller files. I have now copied all the files from the USB flash drive onto my hard disk drive and run zotero from there. The speed is back at instantaneous levels.
My advice is: for your library, use the fastest storage device possible.