Zotero 5 asks to move my library

nbrefzot
Hello, After an upgrade to 5.0.44 it tries to move my library every time I open Zotero, then when it can't, I think because the app and library are on a USB stick, it asks if I want to quit and move it, or just continue. I just continue and everything is OK with the library and most things seem to work. Is it possible to just leave the library where it is and not get the dialogue ever time? Will it cause any problems if I just go on ignoring the instructions? It did not do this with Zotero Standalone 4. Thanks for any help.
  • dstillman
    How exactly have you configured this?

    Are you using a custom shortcut that specifies a different profile directory using the -profile flag?

    And then how is your data directory configured? On the command line or via the Advanced prefs? If the latter, does it show as being the default location or with a custom data directory?
  • nbrefzot
    No, nothing under the -profile flag. Just the same custom directory as with 4 defined in the Files and Folders tab.
  • nbrefzot
    In addition the boxes which display the paths on the Files and Folders tab don't seem to work all that well. It took many attempts to get the custom directory to work with 4 and now I can't get the base directory location to appear in that field.
  • dstillman
    This is with the stock installation of Zotero, not a portable one? What's the exact message you're receiving? Zotero should only say anything about moving the data directory if 1) it's contained within the profile directory and 2) moving it failed. If you just have your data directory pointing somewhere else and the profile directory is still in the default location, it should just use that data directory.
  • dstillman
    In addition the boxes which display the paths on the Files and Folders tab don't seem to work all that well.
    You'd have to say more — we haven't had any other reports of that. If it helps, you can take a screenshot that shows what you're describing, upload it somewhere, and provide a link here.
  • nbrefzot
    The 4 installation was the Standalone, not a portable one, but the 5 is just the standard update. I'll check the dialogue.
  • nbrefzot
    This is the dialogue that appears at startup:
    https://www.dropbox.com/s/t36zi4uyw1lrwoe/1. v5 Start data directory dialogue.jpg?dl=0
    There is no folder at C:\Users\\Zotero
    There are still Zotero folders in Local and Roaming, the profile is still in roaming. The data at F:\Zotero\\zotero is the data I moved and that which I want to use. If I click on the 'Not now' button I get the library I want to use, what I want is to get to this library without the dialogue and without moving the library to the C drive, not enough space for it there. Is this possible?

    The text boxes on the Files and Folders dialogue do not display the path when I click on the folders dialogue to identify the folder I want to use, it takes many attempts to get this feature to work. Is this cause by using the F drive for the base path and the library path? The only way I got the path for the library accepted was to transfer the whole profile and then delete the files and folders which were not part of the library. Screen shots won't show much as nothing appears, the dialogue behaves as if the setting is there but there is no path visible and the setting does not take affect when the dialogue is closed.

    Thank you for any help.
  • dstillman
    Right, so it looks like you moved your enter Profiles folder to the other drive, and Zotero looks for the Profiles/[random].default/zotero pattern to determine if it's in a profile directory (from either Zotero or Firefox). Only the 'zotero' directory is being used, so you should move the files from there to F:\Zotero, point Zotero at that, and delete the Profiles directory.
  • nbrefzot
    When I first move the folder to this location it worked fine with the setup you're suggesting, but after an upgrade within version 4 that stopped working. After this F:\Zotero location stopped working the only way I could get the path string to 'stick' in the Files and Folders dialogue was to transfer the complete profile and then delete the bits which were not needed in that location. I deleted the library from the profile in the Roaming folder of the AppData folder. This worked fine until an automatic upgrade to v5.0.44, I'm now on v5.0.45 and the startup dialogue is still there. As the Zotero is unable to transfer the library from F to C drive, which I do not want, does the Files and Folders dialogue have a problem recognising the F drive location of the library? Thank you for your help.
  • dstillman
    No, you should be able to select any folder.

    But don't worry about this. Just make the change I said, with Zotero closed. When you start it back up, the custom data directory will be missing, and it'll ask you whether you want to use the default location or (I think) choose a different location.
  • nbrefzot
    Hello, Since I've had so many problems moving to new folders in the Files and Folders dialogue, I need to know that there is an option to choose a custom location on the startup dialogue, moving to the default location and then trying to move that to an external drive won't be any use because of the space problems. If there is no definite way to do this I'm just going to leave it as it is and click on Not Now every time I startup, at least this means I will still be able to get at my library of files. I'm surprised that no one else has had problems with that dialogue, I still can't get the Base Directory box to work. Thank you for your help.
  • dstillman
    I'm still not understanding the problem with the file picker, but you could open a new thread for that and link to a screenshot/screencast that demonstrates the problem.
    I need to know that there is an option to choose a custom location on the startup dialogue, moving to the default location and then trying to move that to an external drive won't be any use because of the space problems.
    You wouldn't need to move anything to the default location either way, but it does give you a Locate option. Just try it.
  • nbrefzot
    I wish I had you confidence that I might not loose my library at some stage in this process, so I'm going to wait for a while before doing anything. I've started a new discussion to see if anyone else has had this problem at:
    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/71622/is-anyone-else-having-problems-with-the-preferences-advanced-files-and-folders-dialogue?new=1
    Thank you for your help.
  • dstillman
    There's no danger of losing your library. If for some reason you weren't able to set a new location, you could just move things back to the previous location.
  • nbrefzot
    I'll try it some time, when I'm feeling confident and report back with the results. Thank you for your help.
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