Can't find old data

dstillman Zotero Team
This discussion was created from comments split from: Zotero 5.0 doesn't show old data.
  • digipigg8532
    I'm trying to follow these instructions because my Zotero library is also empty. I have been using Chrome with Zotero. When I go to advnced/files and folders/choose I am directed to zotero directory on my computer. Which is empty.

    I think. I can't tell which "zotero" we are talking about in the instructions. there is no preferences pane that I can see when I access my data via a web browser and I am now completely confused about where my zotero data actually exists.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    @digipigg8532: Make sure you're running the latest version of Zotero — 5.0.17 — which should offer to switch to the previous Firefox directory for you automatically at startup.
  • digipigg8532
    Yes I have this version - I downloaded it about an hour ago.

    I followed the instructions to get my Firefox profile. It gives me a path user - owner- library-application-support-firefox-profiles-foldername. But when I go into finder directly this path is not available: library is not under my username, it is in "macintosh HD". In that "library" under "application support" there is a folder "mozilla" but no folder "firefox". When I search in Finder for the foldername I found through firefox preferences, nothing turns up.

    there is a "Zotero" folder in my "owner" folder. I had backed this folder up a few weeks ago, before I downloaded zotero 5.

    So I have not been able to link to my firefox profile.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    edited August 22, 2017
    That's a different Library folder (/Library). Hold down Option and click the Go menu in Finder to access the Library folder within your home directory (/Users/:username/Library, or ~/Library), which is hidden by default. You can also press Cmd-Shift-G in Finder and type ~/Library.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    edited August 22, 2017
    And to just reiterate, you'd want to check both the Zotero profile directory and the Firefox profile directory for a 'zotero' folder, and see if it has a larger zotero.sqlite and more files in 'storage' than the 'Zotero' (capitalized) in your home folder.
  • digipigg8532
    Am I supposed to try the Option key technique within Zotero Preferences-Advanced-custom? If so, it doesn't work.

    when I try Cmd-shift-G in finder and type ~/library it takes me to a library that does not have anything named "firefox" in it.

    Second, even if I locate the firefox profile in finder, I can't understand how I am supposed to get it into that "custom" menu in zotero advanced preferences.

    And I don't understand the difference between a zotero profile directory and a firefox profile directory. where is the zotero profile diectory?

    I'm on a mac. and obviously really confused. the more I read the troubleshooting instructions the more mixed up I get. and of course I am worried about losing ALL my data (= much money paid to RAs).

    thank you for your patience.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    I linked to instructions for how to find your Firefox profile directory:

    http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Profiles

    Follow those, step by step.

    The Zotero profile directory is in a similar location. I linked to that too:

    https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/profile_directory
    Second, even if I locate the firefox profile in finder, I can't understand how I am supposed to get it into that "custom" menu in zotero advanced preferences.
    Don't worry about the Custom setting. If you find the data directory (containing zotero.sqlite and 'storage', with folders within 'storage') you're looking for, you can move it to be "Zotero" in your home directory (moving what you have there now out of the way) and Zotero will find it when you start it up.
  • digipigg8532
    OK. I've located both profiles in Finder. What is the next step?

    The zotero.sqlite data directory I know about (under - username - appears to be empty. I'm not sure how I would distinguish between multiple files named zotero.sqlite.

    My RA has entered hundreds of items since I backed up my zotero.sqlite three weeks ago. These show up when I log into zotero through a browser, but not in my library when I access it through my laptop.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    I explain above:
    And to just reiterate, you'd want to check both the Zotero profile directory and the Firefox profile directory for a 'zotero' folder, and see if it has a larger zotero.sqlite and more files in 'storage' than the 'Zotero' (capitalized) in your home folder.
    If something's unclear in that, you'd have to be more specific.
  • adamsmith
    as for
    My RA has entered hundreds of items since I backed up my zotero.sqlite three weeks ago. These show up when I log into zotero through a browser, but not in my library when I access it through my laptop.
    To get that data onto your computer -- once you have recovered your local profile -- you just need to sync. https://www.zotero.org/support/sync
    If you're saying that only these couple of hundred items are currently missing locally, you can just sync and be done with this, no need to try to recover anything.
  • digipigg8532
    In the firefox profile folder there are many subfolders, none are named Zotero. within the "extensions" there are some files with zotero in the name and many with "sqlite" in the name, but so far I can't locate a zotero.sqlite in the firefox profile.

    I do have a a file with this name in username-zotero, but this is the small and apparently empty one.

    In zotero - Profiles there is no folder called zotero.sqlite

    I located the Firefox profile and the Zotero profile using your helpful instructions, above.
  • digipigg8532
    The zotero interface on my computer is entirely empty -- thereis nothing at all in my library.
  • digipigg8532
    when I press "sync" I get the warning message: "you are about to sync to an empty zotero database." that is what prompted me to look in the support forum here.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    That's fine — you can certainly sync. If after syncing you find that you don't have items or files you're expecting (e.g., because they weren't synced up to zotero.org before) you can always look for your previous data directory later.

    (I'm a bit confused as to what happened in your case, though. You say you had a /Users/:username:/Zotero directory before you upgraded to 5.0, and that you backed that up. Does that backup contain a 'storage' directory with folders in it? Zotero 4.0 didn't create a directory there, so if you had that, that would've had to be something that you created yourself and pointed to as a custom data directory (unless you tried the Zotero 5.0 Beta).)
  • digipigg8532
    Just to be clear: you are saying that if I press sync -- despite the warning -- that I will not lose the data on zotero.org?
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    Yes. It's no different from syncing from a new computer, which of course doesn't wipe out your zotero.org data. The message is just there to warn you in case you want to find your previous data directory — which is almost certainly somewhere on your computer — instead of syncing.
  • digipigg8532
    (I'm a bit confused as to what happened in your case, though. You say you had a /Users/:username:/Zotero directory before you upgraded to 5.0, and that you backed that up. Does that backup contain a 'storage' directory with folders in it? Zotero 4.0 didn't create a directory there, so if you had that, that would've had to be something that you created yourself and pointed to as a custom data directory (unless you tried the Zotero 5.0 Beta).)


    My reply:

    I'm not sure I can reconstruct what I did for sure but here is what I think happened. At the end of July I was preparing to have a new RA enter items into Zotero. I hadn't looked at Zotero myself for a very long time (I haven't really integrated it into my workflow yet). I probably saw the update for 5.0 and installed it right away. Then I probably realized that I should back up my library before the RA started work. I would have followed the back-up instructions to look for the zotero.sqlite and backed up that. So as far as I can remember the sequence of events, there was always a Zotero directory in my :username:

    this is not something I ever had to look for before, to my recollection.

    thanks for your patient help.

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