Advice for syncing a group library after entries were deleted and then restored

carlapeck
Hello - I have a group library with 41 members. A few days ago, a member contacted me to tell me that most of the entries in the library were missing, along with the folder structure. Because the group is so big and people have varying tech abilities (including me!), I am not able to use one of the sqlite files to restore the library (impossible to determine who has the correct version).

The entries were in the trash so I've restored them to the main group library. However, the folder structure is gone. I want to rebuild the folder structure and I'm trying to figure out how to do this without one of the group members forcing a sync when they open up their local Zotero app and undoing everything I've done. (Do local libraries sync to the web version or vice versa?) How do I ensure that, after I've recreated all of the folders and filed entries accordingly, that others won't undo this work if their version of the group library is not the most up-to-date version?

Should I work in the web version of Zotero? Should I ask everyone to keep Zotero closed (or turn of sync) until I am done?

Thanks in advance for your help.

  • dstillman
    Just make the changes you want. They'll be kept.
  • carlapeck
    Thank you for all of your help. After about 30 hours of work, I've rebuilt the folders and refiled almost 800 references. I've also tagged every reference with a specific folder name in case our team encounters a similar issue in the future.

    Now my question is this: Last night, both my desktop app and the online library showed the same number of files: 792. Today, my desktop shows 792 and the online version shows 1251. I did click the sync button in the desktop app and nothing changed in the online library. No one else has been working in the shared library but me. I'm trying to understand the discrepancy - any ideas for how to resolve this?

    Thanks again.
  • dstillman
    I've also tagged every reference with a specific folder name in case our team encounters a similar issue in the future.
    This really isn't necessary. The "issue" here was just someone deleting a collection by mistake. You should just have regular backups of your Zotero data directory, as with any important data, and/or use the automatic database backups that Zotero provides. We provide explicit, simple instructions for recovering a deleted collection from a backup. An upcoming version of Zotero will make it possible to restore deleted collections from the trash. There's really no reason to tediously duplicate collection names on each item. Collections are functionally just tags to begin with.
    I'm trying to understand the discrepancy - any ideas for how to resolve this?
    You'd have to sort by the same column and compare the items. They should be the same.
  • carlapeck
    Thank you for your response.

    I didn't know which team member had the most recent backup, which is why I didn't try to restore from a backup. That will not be a problem going forward - I will be backing up the group library at least once/week.

    The "missing" references were in the Trash. When I recovered them to the Group Library, the folder (collections) structure was gone. That's why I added collection tags to each item - so that I would know what item belonged in which folder in case I need that info in the future. Adding tags wasn't tedious because of the ability to drag and drop entire collections onto a new tag.

    Does restoring from a backup (or from Trash, when the new update is released), also restore items into collections and sub-collections? (This - obviously - would have saved me a whole bunch of time had I known where the most recent backup was - lesson learned.)

    "You'd have to sort by the same column and compare the items. They should be the same."

    I did exactly that last night, which is why I was surprised that the numbers were different this morning. Last night, when I was comparing numbers and entries in each collection and sub-collection, a couple of the collections in the online library initially had 2x the number of entries but that corrected within seconds as the collection refreshed (when I clicked on it). This was only the case for 2-3 collections - the rest were correct from the get-go. But, this morning, the numbers are off again.
  • dstillman
    edited October 30, 2021
    I didn't know which team member had the most recent backup, which is why I didn't try to restore from a backup.
    It wouldn't really have mattered. The instructions we provide explain how to restore a deleted collection specifically without affecting other data. It sounds like you could've saved yourself many hours just by restoring the deleted collections from any recent automatic backup and going from there.
    The "missing" references were in the Trash. When I recovered them to the Group Library, the folder (collections) structure was gone.
    Yes, because the collection was deleted, and collections, unlike items, aren't currently kept in the trash. As I say, you could've recovered that from the backup, and an upcoming version of Zotero will let you undelete collections from the trash.

    I'd strongly encourage you not to waste time adding redundant tags for collections. It's just not necessary.
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