Tag changes freeze Firefox

gyq
I tried to delete and combine a few unwanted tags a few days ago. This obviously caused a problem that's been pretty annoying. Every time I start Zotero (Firefox version), the tags take quite a few minutes to load. And every time I finish a tag change, Firefox freezes (not responding) for a few minutes. Please help! I have sent the error report in. The report ID: 228417960
Thanks,
Peter
  • dstillman
    For a temporary freeze, a Debug ID that covers it would be more useful.
  • gyq
    Thanks, Dan.
    Here's the debug ID: D565419202
    Basically, when I turn off the tags pane, things are ok. And when I turn on tags again, it takes at least 1 or 2 minutes to load. Firefox then freezes, waiting for the tags to load.
  • dstillman
    That debug output only shows about a 2-second delay while the tag selector loads...
  • dstillman
    Well, it's possible if you didn't touch anything else after the freeze it wouldn't show how long it took. Try it again, and then just click another item after the freeze before submitting the output.
  • dstillman
    But anyway, if it's the tag selector that's causing this, it's most likely just due to the number of tags you have, not from deleting and combining tags. Is it possible that you did an import around the same time?

    Is your trash empty?
  • gyq
    Just tried to toggle tags off and then on again. The freeze was about 1 minute. Here's the debug ID D540741465
  • gyq
    I didn't import anything the last few days, although I did add a few new entries. My trash tray was not empty. When I emptied the trash and clicked on my library to go back just now, Firefox froze again for 1-2 minutes.
  • dstillman
    That still isn't showing a freeze, though. You don't appear to have clicked on a different item after the freeze as I suggested above.

    But more importantly, it appears you have your Zotero data directory on Dropbox, and you have lots of conflicted copies of translators. Your data directory absolutely shouldn't be on Dropbox, since it can cause database corruption and all sorts of other problems, and we can't provide any support while that's the case. Not saying this is caused by that, but your first step should be moving the data directory out of Dropbox, deleting all the conflicted files, and checking your database integrity from the Advanced -> Files and Folders pane of the Zotero preferences.

    If you still have problems after that, we can look at this further.
  • gyq
    I've done some tidying. Checked database integrity and found no problem. Had another try and the same problem remains. Will transfer everything from dropbox to external hard disk soon (BTW, I have used dropbox for years, so I don't really think it has anything to do with dropbox). Will keep trying and see if I can catch anything. Anyway, here's the latest debug ID: D1892403160 Thanks for the help!
  • dstillman
    OK, that does show a 90-second freeze refreshing the tag selector, which is obviously not expected behavior. Provide another Debug ID after transferring the data directory and I'll take a look. (Judging by your report, you should also reset your translators from the Advanced -> Files and Folders pane of the preferences after doing so, though that shouldn't affect this.)
  • gyq
    Thanks, Dan. Translators reset. Everything transferred from dropbox to local disk. Same problem remains. The new debug ID I submitted is D778463019.
  • dstillman
    Thanks — we're looking into this.

    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/39027/zotero-slows-firefox-upon-use/#Item_4
  • gyq
    I might've found the trigger, but I'm not sure. I removed Zotero and reinstalled it a moment ago. The problem was gone! However, after I had a look at the configurations by typing in about:config (I didn't change anything), the problem came back. The reason I was looking at about:config was that I have too many unwanted tags automatically downloaded, and I wanted to see if I could turn automatic downloading off. Somehow simply looking at about:config would slow Firefox down, and it has something to do with the tags, cos turning the tag pane off seems to solve the problem. Or did I do anything wrong?
  • dstillman
    I find it very hard to believe that viewing about:config had any sort of effect here. Can you reproduce that?

    Also, what do you mean by "removed Zotero and reinstalled"? Simply removing the Zotero extension and reinstalling doesn't really do anything. It's far more likely that simply restarting Firefox had an effect.
  • dstillman
    The reason I was looking at about:config was that I have too many unwanted tags automatically downloaded, and I wanted to see if I could turn automatic downloading off.
    You don't need to change any hidden prefs for that. That setting is in the General pane of the Zotero prefs.
  • gyq
    I clicked on the "Remove" button against Zotero on the Add-on manager, and restarted Firefox. I then re-downloaded Zotero and reinstalled it. Somehow the problem disappeared, for a few minutes only of course, before I got carried away and started looking at about:config. When I quit the about:config page (I simply moved on to another page, I remember. Should I do a proper 'close' of the about:config page?), the old Firefox freezing problem came back. I'll try again and see if I can reproduce it.
  • gyq
    I guess I was wrong about the about:config thingy. I performed another reinstallation of Zotero, and the problem seemed to have disappeared (Toggling on and off the tag pane, adding new tags didn't freeze Firefox). However, when I tried to edit the tags in the tag pane (combining two tags and renaming another), the problem came back. So it's indeed a tag problem.
  • dstillman
    I'm not able to reproduce this, even after adding a few thousand tags in a library, renaming and deleting tags, etc. If you make the tag selector visible, select My Library, and restart Firefox, do the freezes occur immediately? (Not referring to the normal time for loading the library initially, just the minute-or-so-long tag freeze, so compare with the tag selector closed if necessary.) If not, can you figure out the precise steps necessary to get it to occur?
  • gyq
    Hi again, Dan. I've been able to reproduce the freeze every time I make the tag selector visible. And the problem disappears every time I turn off tag selector.
    I found something new, tho, during the last couple of days. This problem only occurs on my desktop PC at home. My Office PC and my Surface Pro are perfectly fine. So I did a clean reinstall of Firefox and Zotero on my home PC, hoping that might solve the problem. No, it didn't. The same problem is frustratingly persistent. Here is the Debug ID is D1192083570. If you have any insights as to what's causing the problem, please let me know. Otherwise I'll simply turn off tag selector and wait for the problem to disappear in future versions of Zotero. Thank for all the help! Peter
  • KiwiBird
    edited August 21, 2014
    This has become a major problem for me, too -- so much so, I bought a new computer, with more memory -- thinking that the problem is with the computer -- until I read these recent posts. I have a few thousand (2,400+) references in my database, with library size about 3Gb. Should I just wait for the matter to be "corrected"? Truly, will just getting more RAM bring about a realistic change in performance???

    I'm also getting the error message (which apparently goes back to 2007 at least): "A script on this page may be busy, or it may have stopped responding. You can stop the script now, or you can continue to see if the script will complete."
  • dstillman
    Should I just wait for the matter to be "corrected"?
    Yes. We haven't been able to reproduce this yet. Once we do, we'll be able to fix it. In the meantime, the workaround is to keep the tag selector closed.

    And if you discover any other conditions that cause the problem to occur or not occur, let us know.
  • KiwiBird
    thanks for the prompt reply -- turning off tags makes a truly remarkable difference -- adding a new reference yesterday, with PDF attached, I had to check to make sure the item had been added -- I couldn't believe it had happened so quickly! But as people say, there might well be other factors, as well.
  • OLN
    Please, help, someone! Since about two weeks today Zotero freezes permanently - I mean, PERMANENTLY - whenever I try to open the tag selector. I work with the selector closed and only open it when I need to edit or delete tags. Working in the selector has always been something of a problem: more precisely, it takes as long as a whole minute to load when I open it and a minute to implement each change I make to my tags - that is twenty minutes lost if I have to work on twenty tags. So, I only work in the selector when I really have to, especially when I want to edit or delete large numbers of tags. It was a bother but I reckoned I could live with it, given that Zotero - such great software! - is totally free. Now, however, it completely locks up: on one occasion, I left it hanging while I took a break of more than three hours - in the hope that it would have resolved itself in that time - only to find it to my astonishment still frozen on my return! Sometimes, it freezes the entire system. In each case, I have to kill the process - the Firefox process, if I am using Zotero for Firefox, or the Zotero Standalone process. Only a moment ago, it occured to me to check Zotero's memory usage. I found that ok but CPU usage was 100%, with Zotero hogging most of it. It dropped to about 15% as soon as I killed the Zotero process.

    Can anyone help with this? And please, be gentle; I am not familiar with all the special programming language I read in most posts. I am just a computer dummy who loves Zotero and only recently dumped Windows 8.1 for Ubuntu 14.04. Please be gentle.
  • mbefus
    I'm also getting the temporary Firefox freeze issue related to tags. Running Firefox 32.0.3 and Windows 8.1. Any progress on resolving this issue yet?

    Error ID 833363016
    Madelaine
  • dstillman
    We still haven't been able to reproduce this, but we had a report from someone for whom it only happens when a drawing tablet is connected. Is anyone experiencing this issue — which, again, is a long temporary freeze that occurs only when the tag selector is enabled — using a tablet of some sort, either a drawing tablet or a touchscreen PC?

    (And OLN, can you confirm that you're actually seeing this on Ubuntu? I believe everyone else reporting this has been on Windows.)

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