Missing database?
I opened the Zotero app this morning and got this mysterious message:
"You are about to sync the ‘philippa’ account to an empty Zotero database. This could happen if you removed your previous database or if the location of your Zotero data directory changed.
If your Zotero data exists elsewhere on this computer, you should move it to the current data directory or change the data directory location to point to your existing data."
My data is still there when I log in to the Zotero site but I have no idea how to fix this problem on my desktop (Windows 10). I haven't knowingly moved any data.
Is anyone able to help? Should I uninstall and reinstall the desktop app perhaps?
Thanks, PL
"You are about to sync the ‘philippa’ account to an empty Zotero database. This could happen if you removed your previous database or if the location of your Zotero data directory changed.
If your Zotero data exists elsewhere on this computer, you should move it to the current data directory or change the data directory location to point to your existing data."
My data is still there when I log in to the Zotero site but I have no idea how to fix this problem on my desktop (Windows 10). I haven't knowingly moved any data.
Is anyone able to help? Should I uninstall and reinstall the desktop app perhaps?
Thanks, PL
Then see Where did my items go?.
In particular, we'd want to know the names, dates, and sizes of all zotero.sqlite* files in your Zotero data directory, as well as whether there are folders in 'storage' with dates corresponding to your previous usage of Zotero.
The zotero.sqlite file (in users -- Zotero) is dated today and shows a size of 4960 kb.
I see no folders marked storage: three folders are 'locate', 'styles' and 'translation'.
Do you have a "Zotero" directory in your home directory? If so, just set Zotero back to the default location.
What are the contents of each?
Do you recall using a custom data directory location before?
Generally, see https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data#where_did_my_items_go for what you're looking for elsewhere on your computer.
I still have no idea what I now do. I think the safest bet is to see if the techs at work can figure this out; I don't want to mess with this and risk making it worse. Will check in with them tomorrow. Thanks for your assistance.
Just to be sure, you've used Zotero 5 on this computer before? Or is it possible you were using the old Zotero for Firefox version the last time you used it on this computer? (Zotero 5 came out two years ago, but some people stayed on that version for a while.) If so, you'd want to check the Firefox profile, explained in the instructions linked from that section.