different accounts on Firefox and chrome/standalone?

Larisa
Hello

I have been using Zotero for a while (with Chrome, on a macbook), and I am trying to introduce my mother to it.

However, I wanted to also be able to use her Zotero account on my computer since I am assisting her. I thought I could simply install Zotero on her computer (a PC desktop using Firefox) and then download Zotero as an add-on to Firefox (which I haven't used for a while) on my laptop and sync to her account in Firefox.

However, it seems to have synced to my account instead. How do I un-sync my account from firefox, and is it possible to do what I want to do?
  • Larisa
    Ok I'm now totally stumped.

    No matter what I do, both accounts, with separate usernames and passwords, are both trying to sync to the same account. If I sync one, then the other one ways "the last time this database was synced it was to a different account" and it asks me if I want to switch. How do I stop them from both syncing to the same library?

    The other account is EstherKM.

    (I figured out that the second best option might be to create a group we can both work from but right now the main problem is that they are both syncing the same library)
  • aurimas
    edited May 28, 2015
    However, it seems to have synced to my account instead. How do I un-sync my account from firefox, and is it possible to do what I want to do?
    I'm assuming that by "sync" here you mean that you're Zotero Standalone and Zotero in Firefox are showing the same data in your library. Basically, what you want to do is the opposite of what's described here https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/sharing_data_directory You want to make sure that your Zotero Standalone and Zotero for Firefox do not share the same directory.

    After you have that done, one of those will have a fresh library, which you can then sync with your mom's account and then have the other sync with your account (though depending on what sync actions you've already performed, you may need to do some cleanup to untangle the merged accounts)
  • Larisa
    Thank you!

    I believe they do share one now, so it's the same path listed for both. To make them look in different places, what directory do I tell the standalone to look at so it is different from the firefox?
  • adamsmith
    I think the main thing here is that Zotero for Firefox and Zotero Standalone, by default, share a data directory when you install them on the same computer (it would have told you that during the install). So Zotero for Firefox didn't _sync_ to your account -- it's using the same database as Zotero Standalone and you should just keep your username in there, remove all traces of your mother's username.


    You can create separate profiles for both Firefox and/or Zotero Standalone:
    https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles
    (the instructions for Zotero Standalone are pretty similar). You can install Zotero into a separate profile and will have a separate data directory -- it will be completely empty when you start Zotero.
    Proceed with some care, though -- these are advanced features.
  • aurimas
    You can either pick any directory you want on your computer (e.g. create a new directory in your documents folder or on the desktop) or choose "use profile directory"
  • adamsmith
    (to clarify -- I think using separate profiles is generally the more transparent approach, less prone to cause mix-ups, but what aurimas suggests will definitely work).
  • Larisa
    edited May 28, 2015
    Ok, thanks again. Adamsmith my goal is that for the most part my mother will be using this on her own computer without me, now that I've set up a group for us, so I'm hoping not to have to manage separate profiles, I hope that makes sense.

    Moving forward, when I open firefox (where I want to see an empty library and one group - this is also what I want to see in the EstherKM library when i go on on zotero.org), it gives me the following warning. What do I do? (to clarify, I want the Firefox account to be for EstherKM)

    "This Zotero database was last synced with a different zotero.org account ('[...]@gmail.com') from the current one ('EstherKM'). If you continue, local groups, including any with changed items, will be removed and replaced with groups linked to the 'EstherKM' account.
    To avoid losing local changes to groups, be sure you have synced with the '[...]@gmail.com' account before syncing with the 'EstherKM' account."
  • Larisa
    edited May 28, 2015
    Still having problems
    I tried creating two separate profiles in firefox. Apparently I messed it up, because at first it looked great - all clean, and the EstherKM online library didn't have my larisamann@gmail.com libraries.

    But the EstherKM zotero addon in firefox didn't see the group I had created and had had both profiles join. When I synced, hoping that would make the group show up, it pulled in the libraries from my other account again.
  • adamsmith
    Could you maybe give a quick description of which account is which, present on which computer, and showing what online? I have a hard time following this.

    What I think you're saying is that you synced with an account and ended up with something different than what is online for that same account. That's incredibly unlikely, so almost certainly something else is going on.
  • aurimas
    Dan, can you see if EstherKM library was synced with Larisa's account?
    "This Zotero database was last synced with a different zotero.org account ('[...]@gmail.com') from the current one ('EstherKM'). If you continue, local groups, including any with changed items, will be removed and replaced with groups linked to the 'EstherKM' account.
    To avoid losing local changes to groups, be sure you have synced with the '[...]@gmail.com' account before syncing with the 'EstherKM' account."
    This cannot happen on a fresh library, so you must not have done something right with the data directory above.

    At this point, I'm no longer sure what your current setup is. Can you step back and tell us what your configuration is with Zotero Standalone and Zotero for Firefox. List all the profiles you are working, the sync settings you have entered, the data directories that each of the profiles is pointed to under Preferences -> Advanced -> Files and Folders -> Data Directory Location (both what's set in Zotero and what directory opens up when you click "Show Data Directory")
  • Larisa
    Thanks so much

    Zotero Standalone and Chrome larisa.mann@gmail.com
    I don't know what profile I need to use with Zotero standalone or is that only with reference to firefox?
    I currently have the "Files and folders" Data Directory location set to "use profile directory" but tbh I'm not sure what profile directory that is.
    When I tell it to show data directory i get
    Library/ApplicationSupport/Zotero/profiles/kevlzcj7.default
    (that is not the name of the profile I created in firefox)
    Sync settings: larisa.mann@gmail.com and my password

    Firefox - I was attempting to use this only with EstherKM. I have created two profiles, EstherZot and Larisa.
    (I think I may have used Zotero with Firefox in the past back when I still used firefox regularly perhaps that old profile was still where it looked for data the first time?)
    I have the "Files and folders" Data Directory location set to "use profile directory" for that one too, assuming that it will use the EstherKM profile?
    Library/ApplicationSupport/Zotero/profiles/EstherZot
    Sync Settings: EstherKM and the password I entered for that one

    Do you need all the rest of the sync settings?
  • adamsmith
    that's good in terms of settings. Now, what is currently online for those two accounts and what's currently locally on those two accounts? (obviously we don't need to tell us specific contents, but rather something like ("my original library," "my mother's library," "an empty library" etc.)
  • aurimas
    OK, that looks right. Zotero Standalone and Zotero in Firefox under the EstherZot should act as independent libraries. You can try adding a new item to one of the libraries, sync, and note that the item will not sync to the other library.

    I suspect that the reason you're seeing the same items in the two libraries is because you had previously merged them (unintentionally). If you log into zotero.org with each account, they should display the same items under My Library. If that's the case, I would simply delete all the items from EstherZot library. This will not affect your other account.
  • Larisa
    I must have merged them, without meaning to.
    I just deleted the EstherKM library and it all seems to be working now.
    Great!!!
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