Zotero for Firefox says that it is saving the citation, but doesn't.

hillke8
So I'm working with the latest version of Firefox and Zotero. The extension was working fine yesterday, but it doesn't save citations now. I press the bookmarklet on many different kinds of pages (journal articles, newspaper articles, pdf files, you name it, I've tried it), and the "saving item" icon appears in the lower right corner of my screen. However, it does not actually save the citation when I go to my library on the zotero website. My syncing is set up properly (as far as I can tell) in the settings section of the zotero extension.

I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling both firefox and the zotero add-on. I've also tried running the add-on without any others running in the background. Does anyone have any suggestions? Help would be much appreciated.
  • aurimas
    Are you clicking a bookmarklet (a bookmark in your bookmarks bar) or Zotero url bar icon? Also, see http://www.zotero.org/support/troubleshooting_translator_issues
  • hillke8
    edited November 14, 2013
    Hmm...thank you for that webpage...I went through some potential problems in those translator issues but unfortunately it didn't fix the problem. I'm clicking the url bar icon that appears when you visit a page that is compatible with Zotero's auto-citation. For example, when you visit a news article, a little newspaper icon appears, and when you are on a book chapter, a book appears.

    After clicking this, it says that it is saving, but unfortunately it doesn't.
  • uwmstubbs
    Maybe it's saving it on the local site. Do you have zotero client installed? I've had problems predicting where zotero would be saving something, locally or on the web site. And further, if you have a group then the group library is a variable also. It would be great if the zotero plugin could show somehow where it was thinking of saving something and there was some way to adjust that.
  • hillke8
    edited November 14, 2013
    I agree, it would be so helpful! I'm not sure if I have the client installed. What would it be called? Is it the same thing as the firefox plugin/add-on/extension?

    Re: the local site...that could be the issue...I've checked all my various collections/group libraries on the webpage library version (zotero.org), and the items aren't saved there...but if a local drive exists...perhaps they are there. How would I access it?

    Sorry for all the questions. I'm just completely flummoxed here.
  • aurimas
    @hillke8, that page (step 12) requests a bunch of information for us to be able to further troubleshoot this. But...

    ...uwmstubbs may be on the right track in regards to your actual problem. If you're using Firefox and you have Zotero for Firefox installed, the items would invariably be saving to your local database. Whether or not the items appear on zotero.org depends on if your syncing is working. Click the Zotero icon at the bottom of your Firefox window (http://www.zotero.org/support/quick_start_guide#how_do_i_open_zotero) and see if your items are there.

    @uwmstubbs, as I said above, in Firefox, Zotero will always be saving items locally (either to Zotero in Firefox, or if you have Standalone opened and correctly configured, to Zotero Standalone). With Zotero Connectors in Chrome/Safari/Opera and the Bookmarklet, Zotero will first try to save to Zotero Standalone, and if that fails (usually because Standalone is not open), it will save to zotero.org. I agree that we could add some indicator in regards to whether it's saving locally or to the web server. You already should be seeing an indicator for which library (My Library or some group library) and collection is being saved to.
  • aurimas
    If you can't see Zotero icon at the bottom of the screen, see http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/no_status_bar_icon
  • hillke8
    edited November 14, 2013
    Oh my gosh! That was the answer! I just found them! They were being saved locally to that button at the bottom! I feel kind of silly that I never noticed it before.

    Wow----you guys are the absolute best. Thank you SO MUCH for your quick and helpful replies. You just saved me so much time (and now I have more time to properly organize and write this dissertation). THANK YOU!
  • uwmstubbs
    I'm not sure zotero always saves locally. I have got it right now
    saving to a group library. But how it got that way, I'm not sure.
    Some people might like things a lot simpler, like "I only want to save to the group library", or "I only want to save to my online-library". It'd be really nice for the docs to explain how to create those choices. Otherwise, you can be wondering where things are going.
  • aurimas
    @hillke8, if you need help setting up syncing, let us know. It seems that it's not working for you right now.

    @uwmstubbs, when saving locally (i.e. either in Firefox or Standalone is open), Zotero saves to the currently selected collection. When saving to the server, it saves to the root of your library (My Library). I'll see where we can add this to the documentation.
  • adamsmith
    The group library is also stored locally.
    As aurimas says, it's literally impossible to get Zotero for Firefox to save directly to your online account.
  • uwmstubbs
    Hmmm. In my experience it looks like zotero can save to a group library if you have it selected in the native client (and you are lucky :-) . But other people keep saying it can't. We need to formulate an experiment to resolve this once and for all. or something. I'm talking about the 4.0.14 client if that makes a difference.
  • aurimas
    In my experience it looks like zotero can save to a group library if you have it selected in the native client (and you are lucky :-)
    There really should be no luck involved. Are you able to replicate Zotero _not_ saving items to selected collection under any circumstances??
  • adamsmith
    and to be clear. Yes, Zotero does save to a group in the native client. But that's still local.
  • mdvecchi
    I had the same problem, not seeing the references on my online account, but I can see them in the icon in the bottom roght. But shouldn't it somehow sync with the online library?)And if it does, how can I do it=
  • adamsmith
    You need to set up sync:
    http://www.zotero.org/support/sync
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