For teaching Zotero, I set up a sample Zotero db with just a few items on my Mac. However, when I switch from my own db to the sample, my sync settings remain the same. So if I forget to turn off sync or to turn off wifi the 45,000+ records from my own db begin to download, and the setup I had for teaching is immediately lost.

I also need to teach how to download/install/setup plugins. But plugins are also linked to the app and not to a folder. So I need to uninstall my plugins first, then show how to install and set them up, then switch back to my db and redo all the plugin settings for my own database.

Is there a chance that plugins/settings and sync/username could be linked to a particular instance of Zotero on the desktop and not to the app?

This is how it is done in Obsidian. As a result, it is possible to set up a student folder with all plugins and settings preinstalled--see here:

https://github.com/shawngraham/obsidian-student-starter-vault

In Zotero it is not possible to give students a folder with all plugins and settings preinstalled, which makes it difficult to teach Zotero best practices without a painful session (or several) of installing plugins and setting up the app. I would be grateful for any advice how to solve this problem.