Error Using Mendeley Web Importer

ktkchung
edited May 4, 2021
I am trying to transition over to Zotero from Mendeley. After having issues doing the old local import method of installing an old version of Mendeley (which funny enough no longer appears on the Mendeley import webpage roughly an hour after I started trying to do the local import), I am trying the online method.

My files are all available through Mendeley Reference Manager, and I was able to start the import, but after about 5-ish minutes of making slow progress, about 20% of the way through the progress bar I received an error message. This happened twice in a row, I submitted an error report with Report ID: 867375922.

The error message is below, which indicates that a bunch of files failed, I guess at which point the importer quit? In Zotero I can see that my collections were imported but no citations or files whatsoever appear ("My Library" still shows the welcome message).

Any help appreciated, I understand this feature is new and probably has some kinks to work out. I'm looking forward to getting everything up and running.



[JavaScript Error: "HTTP GET https://api.mendeley.com/files/28d668da-20fd-c95b-2aba-0a4079261a2e failed with status code 401"]

[JavaScript Error: "HTTP GET https://api.mendeley.com/files/38d6b602-c726-36c3-1681-686ddc361b5a failed with status code 401"]

[JavaScript Error: "HTTP GET https://api.mendeley.com/files/4318d24e-ac25-db13-402c-3fdbe871c5a6 failed with status code 401"]

[extra output removed — D.S.]

version => 5.0.97-beta.20+83a12bca8, platform => Win32, oscpu => Windows NT 10.0; WOW64, locale => en-US, appName => Zotero, appVersion => 5.0.97-beta.20+83a12bca8, extensions => Zotero LibreOffice Integration (5.0.24.SA.5.0.97-beta.20+83a12bca8, extension), Zotero Word for Windows Integration (5.0.17.SA.5.0.97-beta.20+83a12bca8, extension)
  • dstillman
    Hmm, you're saying this happened only a few minutes after starting? You're getting "401 Unauthorized" errors. Authentication will expire after one hour, but this shouldn't happen after a few minutes.

    How many items do you have in your Mendeley library?

    Can you provide a Debug ID (different from a Report ID) for an import attempt that fails?
  • ktkchung
    edited May 4, 2021
    It ran for 5-10 minutes before this happened. I have a bit less than 2,000 PDF's in my Mendeley library, locally the pdf's alone are about 3GB.

    I will get the Debug ID, but in the meantime, I just ran it again and got almost the same set of error messages (in a slightly different order, but the last one is new:

    [unrelated output removed — D.S.]

    Error messages below, Report ID 1805896412 if it helps.


    [JavaScript Error: "HTTP GET https://api.mendeley.com/files/38d6b602-c726-36c3-1681-686ddc361b5a failed with status code 401"]

    [JavaScript Error: "HTTP GET https://api.mendeley.com/files/53405fb7-6271-44af-2bf3-9e094b81c6d2 failed with status code 401"]

    [JavaScript Error: "HTTP GET https://api.mendeley.com/files/6a9eb6f8-46fa-9af9-187f-4f2df96bd13a failed with status code 401"]

    [extra output removed — D.S.]

    version => 5.0.97-beta.20+83a12bca8, platform => Win32, oscpu => Windows NT 10.0; WOW64, locale => en-US, appName => Zotero, appVersion => 5.0.97-beta.20+83a12bca8, extensions => Zotero LibreOffice Integration (5.0.24.SA.5.0.97-beta.20+83a12bca8, extension), Zotero Word for Windows Integration (5.0.17.SA.5.0.97-beta.20+83a12bca8, extension)
  • ktkchung
    Debug ID: D1377333024.
  • ktkchung
    edited May 4, 2021
    Just ran it again and this time checked the box "include imported collections and items into new collection", not sure if that made a difference.

    Looking at the debug output it clearly ran successfully for some time and was able to access and save a bunch of files ("succeeded with 302") before suddenly consistently failing (code 401):


    (1)(+0000023): HTTP GET https://api.mendeley.com/files/5bcecd6f-cab7-d039-03b4-f0cb66ce4f4a failed with status code 401

    [extra output removed — D.S.]

    By my estimation, I think that it managed to go through my entire library (which should have about 2000 PDFs), and started failing about halfway through. The very last fail message says


    (1)(+0000223): HTTP GET https://api.mendeley.com/annotations?limit=200 failed with status code 401: {"message":"Could not access resource because: Token has expired","errorId":"oauth/TOKEN_EXPIRED"}


    after which follows a bunch of database transactions ending with


    (3)(+0000010): Library is already up to date


    Despite succeeding in saving a significant number of files (to the "user/Zotero/tmp" directory), nothing appears in My Library, although the collections were created correctly (folders on the left-hand pane), but they are all empty. I assume the tmp directory was cleared at the end and the successful files were not kept.


    Debug ID: D419290019
  • dstillman
    Thanks. Mendeley's documentation is apparently wrong here and the authorization is timing out after about 8.5 minutes instead of an hour. We should have a fix soon.
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