How to manage two Zotero accounts?

I have been using Zotero for years for my PhD- I have the standalone programme which is linked to my account so that it updates my files automatically as I download things. I never log into Zotero from the web, I always just open it from my desktop and work from there, and have never had to log in or out- all of my files are just there when I open it. As you can probably tell, I am not very technically minded so I don't fully understand how everything works and only use it for the very basics.

I have recently started a new job, and they were originally using Refworks but I have persuaded them to switch to Zotero as I think it is better. My manager has created an account for the whole research team at work to use, and has exported all of our references from Refworks into a folder in Zotero. What I am not clear about is what is the best way for me to use both accounts- at the moment everything is set up to sync with my PhD account, so when I download a reference directly from the internet it goes straight into that library, and when I want to add references in Word it pulls them from there etc. I need to be able to do all of this from the new work account as well, but I don't know how to switch between the two and am worried about messing something up/losing things from my library as it is now. Is it best to create a new collection or group in my existing account and move the work stuff into there so that everything is in there together? Or should I be using them completely separately?

Any help would be appreciated- I have trawled through the FAQs and help pages but I don't understand any of it well enough to figure out what is relevant to me.
  • I use separate accounts for separate areas of research, and only use the "shared" groups, not the personal library. That way I can create separate zotero profiles (to be picked from the profile manager using -P) which can have any combination of libraries I choose. My main library is a paid account (I'm a bit of a packrat) and the other account (I currently have only one extra) is a member of one of the groups in it.
  • To be specific I run with "-P -datadir profile" which means "start with the picker every time, and also have each profile use a separate data directory automatically". Without "-datadir profile" or extra setup in the "Advanced/Files and folders" section you'd end up with multiple profiles pointing to the same Zotero data folder.
  • Would you please extent a bit on how you manage to do that and how it works emiliano?

    I would like to switch to that system so I have one main account and library and a second for a project-i which has another mail adress and another cloud data folder.

    I tried but stayed a bit confused managing folder locations and how different profile could impact the same data storage folder. And scared to break, delete or corrupt something in the process.

    Here is my case:
    - would like to use one first main library with one main profile ; free zotero account ; local storage ; one first mailadress
    - use a second library for a specific project with a second profile on another zotero account ; and a second mail adress ; storage on cloudservice using zotfile
    - workflows is I add what I want form the first main profile and drag and drop item to the project-specific second library using group ; so hopefully the pdf is copied to the other cloud storage specific profile and made accesible from other machines and co-workers
    - is for when you particpate in more than one non-profit, each one having its mail adress and online storage plan. So in the future I except to replicate this for a third library with a third profile.

    The expected procedure would be:
    1. Make the mainprofile point at default directories (base and storage ; so I do not change anything special versus the default set-up
    2. Make project-specificic profile point at base directory on cloudservice/zotero-attachment

    However, opening the main account (using -datadir profile as you suggest) my library is empty and data directory location shows "\AppData\Roaming\Zotero\Zotero\Profiles\iuc8mugo.profile-2\zotero" : how from that set-up I could reach the data from the default folder I had in User/Zotero ?

    And/or how could I manage to follow the workflow described above?

    Thank you!
  • You'd have to move the contents of $HOME/Zotero to \AppData\Roaming\Zotero\Zotero\Profiles\iuc8mugo.profile-2\zotero (or copy it, really, until you have verified it works) to have it visible in that profile. Personally, I have removed the equivalent of $HOME/Zotero (I'm on a Mac), and have created an empty text file named $HOME/Zotero (no extension, not just an invisible extension, Windows has the nasty habit of hiding file extensions) to make sure that no profile accidentally refers to that directory and could cause a mess-up between the two. That way, if a profile does try to access $HOME/Zotero, it will error out.

    For the rest of the setup, when set up this way, they're just fully separate accounts, so whatever would sync correctly between computers would sync correctly between these profiles.

    Note: I have not tested this setup on Windows. From the looks of it it picks up -datadir profile correctly, but I have no experience with Zotero on Windows.
  • edited November 17, 2021
    Many thanks for that suggestion, I might look at it with back-up and care (!)

    Meanwhile I made that reflexion : seems like I am projecting to use group library with link attachment through zotfile, which doesn't seems possible for technical reasons (see https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/40531/group-libraries-and-pdf-zotfile-use). Any confirmation on that?

    Alternative solution would be :
    1. Edit the group library using the first personal library profile and manually add every week or so the needed items
    2. Drag and drop the attached files in a dedicated folder in the cloud (not necessarily using zotfile)
    3. Share the link to that folder on a dummy item note in the group library
    4. Tell people to use that link and ctrl+f to find what they need...

    Could work for a small project like the local sport club or the chess student club but not for academic intensive stuff.

    As for me in reality I wanted to share the references of my master thesis with tags and collections so my tutor could check where I am and so. Access to attachments is a plus rather than a must.
  • I know the cost can be a factor, but personally, I just do all sync via Zotero storage, which is seamless. They're not doing this as a money grab, there are good technical reasons why sync of groups (rather than your personal library, which is fine) is complicated and fragile if not done via zotero storage.
  • Yes I totally agree, maybe one day at the lab or institution level but as for the coming year I suppose I'll be fine with all there already is. Thank you!
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