Zotero Library and Bookmarks have gone

whiterteeth
I created a profile. After I created it I opened Firefox. The Zotero icon was not at the bottom of the Firefox so I cannot access my library. All my bookmarks have also disappeared.
I'm 72 and not a techie. I'm doing research and all my work is on Zotero.The folder is on my computer but what do I need to do? I use a Mac. Thanks.
John
  • adamsmith
    What do you mean by "I created a profile" exactly?
    If you created a new Firefox profile (and it sounds like you might have) then it will always be empty, but your old Zotero data and bookmarks will still be in the original profile.
    What are you trying to do with a new profile?
  • whiterteeth
    Great. Thank you for responding so promptly.
    I intended to export my Zotero Library to a laptop. I read the advice which told me the easiest way was to create a Firefox profile which I did. When I opened Firefox there was no Zotero and no bookmarks. It was like a totally new Firefox, no Zotero, no bookmarks and no history!
    When I was creating a profile I noticed the box 'Don't ask at startup' was ticked. I left it as it was.
    How can I get back to my original? Surely everything hasn't gone. Please Help. Thanks.
  • adamsmith
    edited October 20, 2012
    you must have misunderstood something - in order to just transfer your library to a laptop, follow these instructions:
    http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/transferring_a_library
    which don't mention creating a new profile. At which instructions were you looking?

    But you did what I thought you might have done - you just created a new Firefox profile - the old one is still there, so no worries about your data.

    The way to go back to your old profile is to again go to the manage profile dialog (the instructions are here:http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles#w_starting-the-profile-manager this should default to Mac OS, but you can switch the OS at the top of the page)
    and select your old profile. That's all. Then follow the instructions for transferring your library above.

    Once you have made sure you have your data back, you may or may not want to delete the _new_ profile (but be _very_ careful not to delete the one with all your data in it, I don't think that can be restored)
  • whiterteeth
    Alleluia. Thank You Adamsmith. It worked. I'm back to my good old profile. No heart attack. A Guinness on me.
    I'm a big champion of Zotero so if you need a voice over here let me know. Again thank you. And on Saturday too. 10 out of 10.
  • adamsmith
    Excellent!
    I'm still curious were you got the wrong perception about profiles? If there is a part of the documentation that's unclear, we'd want to fix that.
  • whiterteeth
    When I created a new profile I didn't expect, obviously from my experience, that Zotero would not be on my new profile etc. I think one needs to be prompted to untick the box 'Don't ask at startup'(it's already ticked so I left it as it was) would mean that all profiles would be offered and so a choice would be seen. To help in this perhaps if the section on 'options' 'Don't ask at startup'in the advice on setting up a profile came earlier it would help. Hope this helps.
    Again thanks.
  • adamsmith
    unfortunately we have no influence on that - profiles are a Firefox feature they set default behavior and documentation.
    But why did you think you had to create a new profile in the first place?
  • whiterteeth
    I use Zotero on Firefox. I thought of exporting my library to a laptop so I could use it when I'm away from my Mac. I read that the easiest way was to create a profile and copy my library to the new profile which I could copy to my laptop.
    However, I'm really tired this week and took the wrong time to try something without giving it more attention.
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