Add by item identifier not working; items added to zotero.org not syncing

stjepanovic
Debug ID: D62999818

This started because Zotero on my MacOS machine stopped adding items by DOI or PubMed ID. For example for DOI 10.1016/j.addbeh.2017.08.011 I get a Lookup error for that and for the PubMed ID for that item.

I then thought I could use zotero.org to add the items to the library and sync the library. I'm able to add the items to a collection on zotero.org, but the items don't sync to my local library.
  • adamsmith
    The folks with access to debug info might be able to say more, but this very much sounds like https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/connection_error
  • dstillman
    edited March 18, 2020
    @stjepanovic: Can you provide two Debug IDs, one for the first sync after adding an item online that doesn't sync and another for an Add Item by Identifier attempt that doesn't work? For the first one, make sure you capture the very first sync after adding the item online, keeping in mind that it will sync automatically within a few seconds if you have auto-sync enabled. For the second one, make sure that syncing isn't running.

    These should both be just for the actions in question, not from Zotero startup.
  • stjepanovic
    edited March 18, 2020
    @dstillman I created two more debugs, but after restarting Zotero after replicating the issue in those two debugs the problems are now resolved.

    What I did notice was that Zotero had locally created two copies of a group library, of which there was only one online. One of the was synched with the online version, the other was not (the problem below).

    Lookup now seems to work everywhere, whereas before it worked nowhere (online groups or "My Library".

    I've left the debug reports in below in case they're in any way useful.

    ----

    I disabled automatic sync to make it easier to track what is happening.

    D1051081345 - adding a new item by an identifier. Same Lookup error as previously.

    D1954734947 - running a sync after adding new items to Zotero.org. Sync fails to pull new items but doesn't give any errors.

    Zotero local: https://imgur.com/a/yM7co7K

    Zotero.org: https://imgur.com/a/ormuX1A
  • dstillman
    edited March 19, 2020
    (1)(+0000000): Error: Cannot edit item in read-only library N[…]

    3)(+0000001): Alert:

    Zotero could not find a record for the specified identifier. Please verify the identifier and try again.
    The error log indicates that you were trying to run Add Item by Identifier in a library you didn't have access to make changes to. That obviously shouldn't be allowed, and we'll fix that, but it would've been fixed by switching to a different library or adjusting the group settings so that you could edit it.

    You're currently the owner of the library in question, and if that were the case you should've had write access already, but it looks like there was just a change to the group, so maybe that wasn't the case before?
    Sync fails to pull new items but doesn't give any errors.
    There were no changes to the group online when you performed the sync. It may have just been a display issue.
    What I did notice was that Zotero had locally created two copies of a group library, of which there was only one online. One of the was synched with the online version, the other was not (the problem below).
    What do you mean by "Zotero had locally created two copies of a group library"?

    In any case, we ignore this if it's working for you now, but there are no obvious problems in these debug logs other than allowing an Add Item by Identifier attempt in a read-only library, which we'll fix.
  • stjepanovic
    edited March 19, 2020
    > What do you mean by "Zotero had locally created two copies of a group library"?

    You refer earlier to my not having write access to a group. That seems to be a group I had created and then deleted online. I then created another group that has the same name.

    For some reason, the desktop version of Zotero on only this machine had kept a copy of the deleted group alongside its replacement. My PC did not. This deleted group was gone online and on a PC that I use, but not my Mac.

    All of my problems were down to trying to interact with this deleted group library. Once I deleted it from Zotero on my Mac everything went back to normal.
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