Folders content disappeard + Unfield items

Hello, I started using Zotero a year ago and I'm using Desktop version 5.0.77 for Mac right now.

My problem is the following:
I created 2 subcollections (let's call them "folder1" and "folder2") around 2 weeks ago. I added to those subcollections something around 10 items.
Then I go back to them and both folder1 and folder2 contain 361 items. My whole Library contains 361 items, that means both folder1 and folder2 contains a copy of my whole library now.
Now I check the "Unfiled Items" and there they are, some of the items I'm sure I saved in folder1 and fodler2. How do they ended up there if I didn't erase the subcollections?
And most upsetting: some other items I'm sure should belong to other subcollections (folders that still exist in my library) and some more are old items I don't remember in which subcollection they should go.
I checked my online account but, since I reached the max. space, the library there is not up to date.

So, my doubts:
1. How this happened?
2. How can I reverse it?
3. And most importantly, How can I avoid it to happen again?
4. Has this something to do with the fact that I reached online space limit? Shouldn't the Desktop App work locally anyway without troubles?

Thanks
  • I created 2 subcollections (let's call them "folder1" and "folder2") around 2 weeks ago. I added to those subcollections something around 10 items.
    Then I go back to them and both folder1 and folder2 contain 361 items. My whole Library contains 361 items, that means both folder1 and folder2 contains a copy of my whole library now.
    I'm a bit confused by this. You're saying that you added 10 items to these collections, but then when you viewed these collections later you saw all your items in them? Was this still the case after restarting Zotero? (In other words, did the interface just stall?) If you go to the library root and show the collections the items are in, do they appear in those collections?

    If you're still seeing unexpected things after restarting Zotero, can you take some screenshots that demonstrate the problem and either upload them somewhere (e.g., Dropbox) and post a link here or, if you prefer not posting them publicly, email them to support@zotero.org with a link to this thread?
    I checked my online account but, since I reached the max. space, the library there is not up to date.
    Storage space is irrelevant for data syncing, which is always unlimited. As long as you're syncing properly, you'll see the same data in both places. (But yes, a storage limit for files also wouldn't have any effect on your local Zotero, at least on the computer where you created the files.)
  • Hi @dstillman, thanks for replying.
    I tried to restart Zotero -- and those folders are gone now. I'm sure I never deleted them, though.

    As for the "Unfiled Items" folder, there I can find the items I added recently (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P7fNZ44DhToJ3maBCSHH-UDfJPpiVGDF/view?usp=sharing) but also some items I added to other collections many months ago (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Xp32qg8ajIa3vLZxkPmgATzxYfXpC8jQ/view?usp=sharing) that now don't appear in any collection. You can see it from the "Date Added" field in Info panel.

    Since is 30 items I'll restore them manually, desactivate sync. and backup differently
  • edited November 16, 2019
    There's really no reason to disable syncing. Syncing only syncs explicit deletions, so if something disappeared, it was deleted by you or someone with access to your library on another computer, perhaps accidentally.

    (But you should certainly have a local backup of any important data — Zotero or otherwise — whether or not it syncs to the cloud. On a Mac, the easiest option is to just use Time Machine to regularly back up your whole computer to an external drive.)

    From the server logs, it looks like two collections were deleted on Thursday before you posted. A couple other collections were deleted a week ago. No other collections have been deleted since May, before that item in your second screenshot was created. So that item was either never filed or was in one of the four collections deleted in the last week.
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