Yes, the trash is empty. Is there any way to delete tags from the online library interface? This seems to be the problem...maybe.

"The online library isn't the problem..."

OK. Any idea why/how the deleted tags are repopulating when syncing a new computer?

"Showing up how? Attached to items, or just in the tag selector?"

Some of both. The ones not attached to an item do not show up after restarting FF but the others (deleted once before) are still there.

Is it possible that the automatic tags associated with items already in my library were repopulated when I initially synced my account with my new computer?

I'm wondering if those items with URLs attached imported any associated automatic tags when I synced my account with my new computer.

Again, just trying to figure out why my library had automatic tags attached to items when I initially synced my account with my new computer when I didn't have any automatic tags in my library (on my old computer) prior to the sync.

I have the very same issue. I painstakingly removed bogus tags that were imported because I had the "automatically tag items" setting set when I was importing citations. I unchecked that setting and further imported citations no longer brought in bogus tags.

HOWEVER, when I went to sync my citations to my new computer, it brought all those dead tags back to life (on the new computer only). Now I have over 1000 tags that I will have to figure out how to remove them. To make matters worse, it appears you can only delete one tag at a time!!

Beyond going into the sqllite database is there a solution to this that won't take me several hours to fix? This is important because I tend to manage my citations by tags only.

Thanks.

PCA - original computer
PCB - new computer

On PCA with "Display All Tags" it shows my curated tags, no bad or imported tags. No imported tags show up on autocomplete either. And no imported tags are associated with them on computer A.

After synching A with B, I see bad tags. That said, I see them online as well.

So my first instinct was to suspect that tags were not being synched properly (i.e. if deleted on PCA, they would not be deleted online). However, I ran some tests creating new tags and synching them. They appear online. I then deleted them on PCA, synched, and then they disappeared online. So it appears that works.

However, for some documents it does not.

For instance, I have a document: Markets and Hierarchies: Some Elementary Considerations.

It has no tags on PCA, but online, there are tags. And on PCB there are tags as well.

Dunno why certain files are keeping their tags.

This tag: ASSOCIATIONS, institutions, etc.

is no where to be found on PCA.

"ASSOCIATIONS, institutions, etc." is definitely still associated with items—three different ones—in your library online. Do those items exist on PCA? Online they haven't been modified in a few years.

OK. My guess is that this happened through some fluke that triggered a full sync after you did the deletions. If that's the case, the problem will go away after an upcoming sync overhaul. In the meantime, we can't really do much with this unless you can reproduce it.

For tags that appear on PCB, you can delete them there and sync to remove them from the server. If you have orphaned automatic tags on the server, I can also remove those for you if you want. I see ~600 automatic tags in your library, with the last one added a couple years ago.

In general, make sure you have auto-sync enabled. You're much more likely to run into problems if you perform a large set of changes with auto-sync off.

Yes, you can.

http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/transferring_a_library