please help--references lost from zotero database
I desperately need help. I am using openoffice 2.41 and firefox 2.0017 with Mandriva 2008.1. I have written a paper and Zotero worked brilliantly. However I have written most of a second paper which I saved. After opening the manuscript and trying to add another reference Zotero told me that "this citation no longer exists in the Zotero database." The reference was in the database but is now gone. I then added the reference and after saving the document tryed again. Now most of the references are now longer in the database and I have many of the no longer exists errors. This is a huge, huge problem and I desperately need help. I love zotero but unless this problem is solved I cannot use the program. I hate the thought of going back to Refman.
Hope someone can help.
Hope someone can help.
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Thank you for the reply. First, let me say that Zotero is an amazing program. You should be congratulated for an amazing effort. I am a former user of Reference manager. I used that program when it was first available in DOS so I am quite familiar with that program. I like Linux and use openoffice whenever possible. I have been looking for an excuse to break the Microsoft addition but could not find a linux program that would substitute for Refman. When I read about your program I decided to take the plunge. When I wrote the first paper (I am a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology) with zotero and openoffice I really tortured the program. It was indestructible. I couldn't believe how easy it was to use. I could tell you horror stories about Refman and corrupt databases that I experienced. Zotero is a remarkable achievement and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.
I backup the database on a stick using rsync and have never had any problems. My database is enormous--at least 23 M and growing. I like to attach pdfs to the papers so the database grows rapidly. When I was writing the second paper (which has over 200 references) I experienced the problem with references disappearing from the database. It took me an hour to correct the problem and re-enter the references. Since the bibliography at the end of the paper still had the references it wasn't a huge problem. When I used it again I again lost some references from the database and got the citation no longer in the database message--the citation was present in the manuscript but for some reason the reference was deleted. I also noticed that if I deleted a reference that it was immediately removed--no popup about am I sure I want to remove the entry. Then I read on the forum that some users were having problems with Firefox 20017. I upgraded Firefox to 3 and now I get the question about am I sure that I want to remove the entry. Most importantly, no more problems.
What is amazing to me is after all this messing around with the database everything is just fine.It look like the old Firefox allows entries to be removed but this does not happen with Firefox 3.--If I am correct then you should warn your users about this problem.
Thanks for a great program.
ps. is there a limit to the size of the database.
inadmissable value or data type. Index out of defined range.
The basic script stops at
The program has cut my references again.
Can you help.
The basic script stops at
' Update bibliography data
If mResultArray(1) = "X" Then
For i = 0 To (j - 1)
Set mMarks(mBibliographies(i)) = fnRenameMark(mMarks(mBibliographies(i)), "ZOTERO_BIBL")
Next i
ElseIf mResultArray(1) <> "!" Then
For i = 0 To (j - 1)
Set mMarks(mBibliographies(i)) = fnRenameMark(mMarks(mBibliographies(i)), "ZOTERO_BIBL " & mResultArray(1))
Next i
End If
must be a problem with the script but i cannot figure out why the problem has developed. I reloaded the addon but no luck.
OK, so, to clarify, is this happening in all your documents, including new documents, or only certain documents?
When the script stops, what line is highlighted in the above code?
Have you tried removing the bibliography and re-inserting it?
Thanks for the response. It seems that all my documents are now affected. Also, occasionally, I notice that a reference is missing from the database. I tried deleting the bibliography and reinserting but it doesn't work. The script stops at
If mResultArray(1)= "x" Then.
I am a total loss to figure this out. My database is OK as it passes the integrity test and can be converted to RIS format and imported into Reference Manager where it works fine.
Thanks
David
Can you provide (here or via e-mail) explicit steps to reproduce the error?
I have used both the rebuilt and original database. Can you tell me what that error means.Based on your results it looks like the problem is with the extension. I will try again to load the extension into OO and see if that makes any difference. Meanwhile do you have any other suggestions??
Thanks
David
David
The plugin is just the file you downloaded from our site, so that doesn't help, unfortunately.
I plan to reinstall OO so lets see if that helps.
Thanks.
I wanted to run my database from Dropbox so that it continuously updates and is available from other computers. When I went through the process of changing where my browser saves the database, it simply wiped it out. I recreated the database using a backup I had created by exporting to an rdf file. However, when I open a document created before I did this, I get the message saying this "citation no longer exists in the Zotero database" (the citation IS still in my database). These citations then no longer appear in my bibliography.
If you used the recommended backup method (keeping a full copy of your zotero data directory), restore that.
If you only have the RDF, you'll have to replace citations in that Word file.
Thanks.