Lost PDFs and need to repopulate

bookster808
Hi all,

I'm having some issues with my Zotero online library. Last year, I lost a years worth of PDFs from my Zotero library. The reference records are all still intact, but the PDFs associated with them were apparently lost. Fortunately, I had backed them up on an external drive. One odd thing: the PDFs I attached to references for a single year (~2017) were lost. That is, I didn't lose any of the PDFs from 2016 or 2018. Curiously, when attempting to repopulate the PDFs from the external drive, when I add them first to the Zotero online library, and then refresh to repopulate, they appear in Zotero standalone, but not vice versa, even if I hit refresh in Zotero standalone.

I have two questions. First, how can I be confident that this won't happen again? Second, is there a way to repopulate the 2017 PDFs without manually adding them to my Zotero online library (since it's about 1000 items)?

Thanks for the help,
bookster808
  • adamsmith
    How exactly did you have the PDFs backed up? If you have the old Zotero storage folder backed up, you can easily restore the PDFs, otherwise I don't think there's an easy option.

    As dstillman said in your other thread, it's almost certainly not the case that your PDFs were lost online; Zotero doesn't just randomly delete data. They were likely never synced. The way to prevent this would be to watch out for any sync errors and if you want to be extra sure to occasionally test if you can open random PDFs online (though obviously that shouldn't be necessary).
  • bookster808
    Thanks for the quick reply, @adamsmith. I wonder, though, is it really that likely that I didn't sync Zotero for an entire year? I don't believe I've ever had standalone set to manually sync, and I was able to access these PDFs online before I lost them. One vestige of this appears to be that the placeholders for these PDFs still appears online, but they no longer connect to anything.

    But that's the past, and what I hear you saying is that it shouldn't happen in the future again. I think that's right, though it would be nice to figure out why it happened in the first place to guard against it happening again.

    In terms of a solution for repopulating them, it sounds like there isn't an easy one. I do still have one question related from my post - why am I only able to repopulate things on Zotero online, but not vice versa, even if I hit refresh in Zotero standalone?

    Thanks again, @adamsmith
  • adamsmith
    You wouldn't have had to _not_ sync -- you simply could have overlooked a file sync error, for example or -- and that's certainly possible -- there was a bug that prevented a file sync error from displaying.

    As for
    One vestige of this appears to be that the placeholders for these PDFs still appears online, but they no longer connect to anything.
    The placeholders appear even if files never synced, so they don't mean anything.

    For the remaining question: Could you say exactly what you're doing? How are you adding files and how are you checking for them online? Adding files locally and having them show up on the server should just work.
  • bookster808
    Thanks again for the quick reply @adamsmith. In the case of repopulating through Zotero standalone, I have been clicking on the "dead" PDF, going to "locate," getting the file name (e.g., ZISS5063 or whatnot), searching that name on my external, and then drag/drop the PDF and info into the entry. This works for standalone - I am able to access these files later - but I'm never able to get to them in my online library, even after syncing.
  • adamsmith
    Wait but you have these folders, like ZISS5063 on your external harddrive? That'll make this much easier.
  • bookster808
    I do have the folder names on my external harddrive. Currently I've been searching the filenames in Zotero standalone, finding them on my drive, then drag/drop them on Zotero online, and deleting the (old, orphaned) PDF link on standalone. A rather lengthy process for 1000 items. Any suggestions to speed up the process? Is there anything I'm missing? Thanks, @adamsmith
  • adamsmith
    edited May 10, 2018
    Find the Zotero data folder:
    https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data
    Which has a subfolder "storage"
    From your external harddisk, copy over all the older folders into that folder (i.e. into the storage folder).
    You'll likely get a conflict message. Select "Merge" from the option and check do this for all (the exact wording may differ depending on your OS).

    Once done, check whether the PDFs open locally. If that works, go into the Zotero preferences under "Sync" --> Reset and select "Reset File Sync History"
    Make absolutely sure you have selected that option and not the "Restore to Online Server on", then click the Reset button, which will cause Zotero to check for each attachment that it's properly synced online.

    This is a one-time step, don't use the reset option in the future.
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