Is Zotero 5.0 support more than one library?

François Maurice
Hi,

I'd like to know if Zotero 5.0 support more than one library for the same Windows user?

Thanks,

François
  • bwiernik
    What exactly is your use case? The easiest way to do multiple libraries is to create a Group. Each Group gets its own separate library (and you can have a private group with only one member—I have several such libraries for various projects).
  • François Maurice
    Hi,

    Maybe I don't understand Groups feature, but I thought it was necessary to use the synchronization with Zotero's servers, since Groups exist mainly for online collaboration.

    In my case, I am the only Zotero user on my computer, and I don't collaborate with anyone, but I'd like to be able to create multiple libraries without having to create multiple Windows profiles. With Zotero 4.0 for Firefox, I could create several Firefox profiles to manage multiple libraries. But I do not know if the extension of Zotero 5.0 for Firefox will allow me to do the same.

    Thanks,

    François
  • dstillman
    Zotero supports the same profile flags (-P, -p) as Firefox.
  • François Maurice
    Sorry, I don't understand profile flags (-P, -p).

    Does that mean that I can create multiple profiles with Zotero 5.0 (Standalone), or does that mean that if I create multiple profiles with Firefox, I will be able to manage multiple libraries with Zotero 5.0 as with Zotero 4.0 for Firefox (the plugin)?

    I just need to manage multiple libraries without creating multiple Windows profiles on my computer. Is it possible ?

    Thanks,

    François
  • dstillman
    Yes, you can create multiple profiles in Zotero using the same command-line flags that Firefox uses.
  • bwiernik
    Zotero 5.0 is a separate program that is not connected in any way to your profiles or settings in Firefox. You can set up profiles in Zotero 5.0 in the same way as you would in Firefox (though, as I say, they are separate).

    Groups are mainly intended for collaboration, but, because each Group gets its own separate library in the Zotero client, they are also useful for maintaining separate libraries. You do need to sync once after creating a group to make its library appear in your client. Is there a Particular reason you don’t want to use Zotero data sync?
  • François Maurice
    Thanks for the answers.

    No, I don't have any particular reason not using Zotero data sync. It was only an incomprehension of the functioning of Groups.

    I will experiment the two ways to manage multiple libraries: Zotero 5.0 profiles and Groups. I will keep you informed of my results regarding the method that seems to me most appropriate for a solo user (a user who does not collaborate with anyone).

    François
  • sebrattansen
    Thanks for asking this question - I didn't know you could create multiple libraries using groups!
  • smartreader
    I think the question of Francois Maurice is very important and could help even others a lot. In my opinion it would really help, if you could open zotero more than one time. There are programs that allow this. Imagine you are a teacher for history and English. You would prefer having your subjects separated. Maybe you prepare lessons in English and history at the same time and want to see both but separatedly. This option would be a decisive new quality of zotero.

    Also it would help if you could have several icons for your folders (e.g. vocabulary always has one icon); then you could find your data faster.

    Last not least "tabbed working" would be an advantage. If you could open certain folders and files in different tabs, like in your browser, you could have all you need at one time and you could change as often you need and very fast. The tabs should possibly be coloured for convenience.

    So, Francois Maurice's issue is more than the question of groups.
  • dstillman
    In my opinion it would really help, if you could open zotero more than one time.
    Yes, you can do that. There's now dedicated documentation on this:

    https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/multiple_profiles
  • hkhawar21
    If I create multiple profiles, will they all be synced with the same Zotero account?
  • dstillman
    No, profiles have their own settings, and that would include separate account settings.
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