Large Citavi DB import

Hi,

i have a quite large Citavi Database i want to import to Zotero.

I have followed to instructions (https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/import-from-citavi) but it takes ages and finally zotero always crashes. I also tried to export my Citavi DB in RIS and splitted up in several small files, but this solution produces a lot of dublicates.

Has any one any idea? I really want to switch to Zotero but I need my old data collection!

I can also send you / the zotero team the file.

Thanks in advance,

Rob
  • Sorry, i should have specified what i think a large Citavi DB is. Mine has ca. 4200 entries and the exported xml is 32 MB.
  • Unless Citavi is actually putting items into the RIS file in more than once, you shouldn't get duplicates as long as you delete everything in Zotero and empty the trash before starting the import. (Or, a little better if you're starting from scratch, you could open your Zotero data directory, close Zotero, and delete zotero.sqlite, which will avoid creating a large delete log unnecessarily.)

    We're aware of speed and memory-usage problems with large imports in the current version. If you can wait, we may be able to improve that in the next week or two, and you'd be able to get the full data from the Citavi XML. Otherwise, splitting up RIS is probably your best bet.

    If you decide to wait, I'll post back here when we have something for you to try.
  • Thanks a lot! I will wait for the update, because xml is much closer to the citavi db than the RIS file. Please tell me when the import improvements are ready.
  • Hi,

    is there any news on the large imports issue?
  • Has there been a improvement of the import module?
  • Are there any news regarding XML import from Citavi? I seem to be having the same problem as RPeters (my .ctv5 file is 6.6 MB and has around 2,500 entries).
  • Absolutely no guarantees, but https://gist.githubusercontent.com/retorquere/d989b5c3f3854fb8fb701cee16a7731a/raw/8391ded80b13b438f5d3e88a06b9d063ef86d597/Citavi%205%20XML%20async.js is a quick asyncification of the existing Citavi importer. For me, large imports have previously crashed Zotero because it would freeze for too long, and making the importer asynchronous helped. I've tested it with the existing test cases for this translator and it seems to work; if someone can get me a large Citavi XML file I'd be happy to test that.

    To use this, stop Zotero, drop this file into "[zotero dir]/translators/Citavi 5 XML async.js", and remove "[zotero dir]/translators/Citavi 5 XML.js". You can get the regular importer back later by refreshing translators. Now start Zotero and import as usual.

    If the crash is because the XML file is too large to keep in memory, this won't help.
Sign In or Register to comment.