I can't find one of my files

tbiani55
I can't find my largest file anymore! it's not showing up on zotero. The title and everything is there but the notes are not there. I am using a mac computer and I don't have fire fox. I tried doing the 'show data directory thing' but I can't really go any further than locating the sqlite files because whenever I click on them, a screen pops up that states that there is no application set up for this document?? plus I don't understand exactly what I'm supposed to do with that (the steps) or why exactly it is even gone. I have no idea what it's talking about and I am freaking out because this is for my dissertation which I need to get done soon.
  • aurimas
    Let's back up a little bit.
    The title and everything is there but the notes are not there.
    Where exactly are you looking at the title? Is that a title of a Zotero item or the file attachment? What about the notes? Are those supposed to be notes attached to a Zotero item or notes attached to a PDF attachment? Feel free to take a screenshot, upload it somewhere (Dropbox, Imgur, etc.), and link to it here.
    I can't find my largest file anymore!
    Again, not really sure where your're looking. Are you getting some error message when trying to access the file, or are you just not able to see the file attachment in Zotero?
  • tbiani55
    Thank you for the quick response! All I had to do was to move zotero.sqlite out of the folder and rename the zotero.sqlite.bak one! I did it the other way around so it just wasn't working. Anyways, I figured it out but thank you so much for your help!
  • tbiani55
    Okay that's a lie. I only got partial recovery. I only have half of the information I had put in but this problem is only occurring under one of the "titles" or the different documents that I am utilizing. If this still doesn't make sense, I can send a screen shot.
  • adamsmith
    screenshot would be good. I don't know what you mean by "titles"--maybe collections? Upload to a free image hosting site like dropbox or imgur.com and link to it here.
  • tbiani55
    Yes collections lol here's the screenshot and the collection, I guess, that I am having trouble with is under the title "Trial by Fury" and its only showing half the info I have inserted.
    https://www.dropbox.com/s/8ael34h03xawgtr/Screenshot%202014-11-28%2017.55.16.png?dl=0
  • dstillman
    It's still not clear what you mean — "info" is vague. You have to tell us what you're expecting to see.
  • tbiani55
    Im struggling on how to explain it. I'll attach multiple screen shots.https://www.dropbox.com/s/xa0khbuwpj0scg6/Screenshot%202014-11-28%2018.58.01.png?dl=0

    Okay so this is under the section "Trial by fury" and on the right is the notes that I have added on there. I added those notes about three days ago. Yesterday, I added a bunch of notes under the same article. However, when I went back yesterday night to look at it all the information was gone only the title was showing on the right. Under the section heading title on the very top. So today I tried moving the zotero.sqalite, renaming zotero.sqalite.bak to zotero.sqalite and restarted my computer and when I did that I was again able to see the notes I had written under "Trial by fury." However, it was only the notes I wrote three days ago and before. Its like it didn't save the notes I took yesterday. So I'm basically missing everything that I collected yesterday. And i actually realized i'm missing more notes all together now when i went back to look at it. It is not even showing the article or book that i had inputed yesterday. Maybe it just didn't save?
    This is the best way I can explain it. I honestly don't know any of the technical terms or anything for zotero.
    Thanks!!
  • dstillman
    Well, if you restored from a backup, you're going to lose some data. Move your original zotero.sqlite back into place and we'll try to help you.

    I'm guessing you were actually just looking in the wrong place in your original library. It's screenshots from that that would be helpful, not from the backup.
  • tbiani55
    https://www.dropbox.com/s/n0j711vse74st4l/Screenshot%202014-11-28%2019.15.39.png?dl=0
    Is this what you mean?

    lol sorry, computer related matters are not really my strong suit, if that wasn't obvious already!
  • dstillman
    No, restore your original database file and show us the place in Zotero where something is missing. You showed us the backup library, but that's obviously not going to include the most recent data, since it's a backup.
  • tbiani55
    Okay, I restored my original file and it worked.
    Thanks!

This is an old discussion that has not been active in a long time. Before commenting here, you should strongly consider starting a new discussion instead. If you think the content of this discussion is still relevant, you can link to it from your new discussion.

Sign In or Register to comment.