sharing zotero library between two computers

amyc
Hi, I have a great zotero library on my work PC, and am wondering how I can add this library (including linked files) to my zotero library on the home-base MAC...thanks in advance!
  • Tjowens
    In the next few months there will be a easy way to sync several collections through the web. But for the time being there are a few options. If the machines were running on the same OS you could use Firefox portable on a USB drive. Sadly, while there is a cross platform portable version of Firefox 1.5 I have not come across a cross platform version of 2.0 (If someone knows of a cross platform portable Firefox 2.0 it would probably be the easiest solution)

    Otherwise as I see it you have two options. First you can export your collection as Zotero RDF and then import the collection at home. The more sure fire way to make sure all your linked files come along would be to copy your Zotero profile from the PC and replace your home Zotero profile with the file from work. You can find the Zotero folder's here.

    On a Mac:
    /Users//Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles//zotero

    On Windows:
    C:\Documents and Settings\\ApplicationData\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\\zotero

    I have not worked extensively with cross platform collection transfers, but these should both be viable ways to transfer a collection. Please tell me how it goes.
  • erau
    I actually have a similar problem, but which material on each computer being mutually exclusive. That is, I want to merge the files from one onto the other. When I tried exporting my files (both files and notes, in Zotero RDF), and then import them on my other machine, the destination machine picked the organizing folders as books (which were blank) and all of the real material (what used to be in the folders on the original machine) was not there. Both machines are Macs (a G3 iBook and a G4 Powerbook) and both run 10.3.9, all patches included. Any advice? Thanks!
  • amyc
    Hi, thanks for the tips...unfortunately it didn't work. I copied the files over to the mac using the location you suggested and I also tried to import the zotero rdf file, but i received an error: "no translator could be found for the given file"- is this a platform issue?
  • dstillman
    amyc: What happened after you copied the 'zotero' folder to the new system?
  • amyc
    hi dan. to answer your question, nothing happened- the transferred folders never appeared in my library- but i may (and probably) have done something incorrectly. what i did was to export zotero from the pc, then copy the files into the zotero folder on the mac using the above instructions. i see now that the advice above was to copy the files from the zotero folder rather than exporting the library, so i'll try this too...i hope it works b/c i love zotero! it has helped me pull my whole dissertation together...to unite my references would be a huge help!

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