data directory schizophrenia

martinhinsch
I started using zotero when it was still a firefox plugin and updated via standalone 4.0 to 5.0.*. In my current setup it works perfectly fine, however the data is split between ~/.mozilla/firefox//zotero/ (the official data directory according to zotero preferences) and ~/.zotero/zotero//. Time stamps show that both directories are in active use (see listing at the bottom).

I would like to move *all* data to a third directory, therefore my question is: Which of these files are relevant and can I just move them into a joint (new) directory and point zotero there?


> ls .mozilla/firefox/746clrku.default/zotero/ -gGt
total 82844
-rw-r--r-- 1 164392 Mar 2 15:58 better-bibtex.sqlite-journal
-rw-r--r-- 1 196608 Mar 2 15:58 better-bibtex.sqlite
-rw-r--r-- 1 57272 Mar 2 15:58 zotero.sqlite-journal
-rw-r--r-- 1 20354048 Mar 2 15:58 zotero.sqlite
drwxr-xr-x 2 4096 Mar 2 15:57 styles
drwxr-xr-x 2 4096 Mar 2 15:57 tmp
drwx------ 2 4096 Mar 2 15:57 better-bibtex
drwx------ 2 4096 Mar 2 15:57 pipes
drwxr-xr-x 2 32768 Mar 2 15:57 translators
-rw-r--r-- 1 20346880 Mar 2 15:57 zotero.sqlite.bak
-rw-r--r-- 1 20343808 Feb 24 18:19 zotero.sqlite.1.bak
drwxr-xr-x 483 12288 Feb 17 11:54 storage
drwx------ 2 4096 Feb 1 18:09 locate
-rw-r--r-- 1 20126720 Feb 1 18:09 zotero.sqlite.105.bak
-rw-rw-r-- 1 4 Apr 12 2015 pdfinfo-Linux-x86_64.version
-rwxr-xr-x 1 135 Apr 12 2015 pdfinfo.sh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 1518332 Apr 12 2015 pdfinfo-Linux-x86_64
-rw-rw-r-- 1 4 Apr 12 2015 pdftotext-Linux-x86_64.version
-rwxr-xr-x 1 1624954 Apr 12 2015 pdftotext-Linux-x86_64
-rw-r--r-- 1 658 Mar 16 2010 zotero.moved-files.36.bak

> ls .zotero/zotero/352rjx4s.default/ -gGt
total 13752
-rw------- 1 13210 Mar 2 16:24 prefs.js
-rw-rw-r-- 1 3095 Mar 2 16:11 SiteSecurityServiceState.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 32768 Mar 2 16:11 favicons.sqlite-shm
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 Mar 2 16:11 favicons.sqlite-wal
-rw-r--r-- 1 32768 Mar 2 16:11 places.sqlite-shm
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 Mar 2 16:11 places.sqlite-wal
-rw-r--r-- 1 32768 Mar 2 16:11 webappsstore.sqlite-shm
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 Mar 2 16:11 webappsstore.sqlite-wal
-rw------- 1 599 Mar 2 16:07 xulstore.json
-rw------- 1 97 Mar 2 15:57 handlers.json
-rw------- 1 53 Mar 2 15:57 sessionCheckpoints.json
-rw-r--r-- 1 32768 Mar 2 15:57 cookies.sqlite-shm
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 Mar 2 15:57 cookies.sqlite-wal
-rw------- 1 194 Mar 2 15:57 compatibility.ini
lrwxrwxrwx 1 16 Mar 2 15:57 lock -> 127.0.1.1:+30052
-rw-rw-r-- 1 0 Mar 2 15:57 AlternateServices.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 0 Mar 2 15:57 SecurityPreloadState.txt
-rw------- 1 389 Mar 2 15:57 addonStartup.json.lz4
-rw------- 1 3163 Mar 2 15:57 extensions.json
drwx------ 2 4096 Mar 2 15:57 extensions
-rw-rw-r-- 1 4 Mar 2 15:08 Telemetry.ShutdownTime.txt
-rw------- 1 362897 Mar 2 15:04 retractions.json
-rw-r--r-- 1 5242880 Feb 17 23:25 places.sqlite
-rw-r--r-- 1 753664 Feb 17 12:44 webappsstore.sqlite
-rw-r--r-- 1 524288 Feb 17 12:44 cookies.sqlite
-rw------- 1 327680 Feb 6 19:53 cert9.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 5242880 Feb 1 20:30 favicons.sqlite
-rw-r--r-- 1 512 Feb 1 18:15 storage.sqlite
-rw------- 1 607 Feb 1 18:09 pluginreg.dat
-rw------- 1 16384 Feb 1 18:09 key3.db
-rw------- 1 294912 Feb 1 18:09 key4.db
-rw------- 1 196608 Feb 1 18:09 cert8.db
-rw------- 1 879 Feb 1 18:09 pkcs11.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 196608 Jan 17 14:21 formhistory.sqlite
drwx------ 3 4096 Jan 17 12:39 crashes
-rw-r--r-- 1 1142 Jan 17 12:38 mimeTypes.rdf
-rw------- 1 569 Sep 12 17:00 logins.json
-rw------- 1 372725 Sep 16 2018 blocklist.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 229376 Jul 4 2018 content-prefs.sqlite
drwxr-xr-x 4 4096 Feb 8 2018 storage
drwx------ 3 4096 Dec 26 2017 gmp
-rw-r--r-- 1 98304 Nov 24 2017 permissions.sqlite
-rw------- 1 16384 Nov 24 2017 secmod.db
-rwx------ 1 29 Nov 24 2017 times.json


  • dstillman
    edited March 2, 2020
    Those directories serve different purposes and shouldn't be combined.

    The first one is your Zotero data directory. That should've been moved to ~/Zotero (with a capital "Z") automatically when you upgraded to Zotero 5, but something on your system seems to have prevented that. You can close Zotero and move/rename that manually, and Zotero should automatically find it in the new (default) location, or you can choose a new custom location from the prefs.

    The second one is your Zotero profile directory, and that's just where it lives.
  • martinhinsch
    Ah, I see, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the response.

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