Default sorting of items in the library centre pane when opening Zotero

I am trying to understand what is the default sorting order of the items in the library centre pane when opening Zotero.
I have read the following page:
https://www.zotero.org/support/sorting
But it does not mention the default order at opening for the items.

When opening Zotero, I can see arrows in multiple column headers at the same time, while some other headers do not show any arrow. But the order does not seem to be related to the columns marked with an arrow. These columns somehow seem to be related to the order I was using the last time I closed Zotero.

I have tried playing with the "Secondary Sort", but it does not seem to follow this order at opening.
I have also tested if it remembers the previous session, but it also does not seem to be consistent.

So my questions would be, what is the (expected) default order at opening and how can I modify it?
Debug ID: D168184342
  • edited July 18, 2022
    Can you take some screenshots that show what you're describing, upload them somewhere (e.g., Dropbox or Google Drive), and provide a link here?

    The items list has a single sort/direction triangle for the primary-sort column. The sort order at startup is whatever you were using last.

    Secondary Sort only applies when two rows have the same value for the primary column.
  • Here is an example with 4 triangles showing simultaneously: Zotero_Sort_01.png.

    I think the multiple triangles behaviour was happening in the Debug ID provided above.

    Using:
    - Zotero 6.0.10-beta.8+2cad5b00d
    - On Windows 10
    - With plugins: DOI Manager, Zotero LibreOffice Integration, Zotero Word for Windows Integration, ZotFile, Zutilo Utility for Zotero, Better BibTex for Zotero.
  • OK, that's certainly not normal.

    Does it still happen if you disable all third-party plugins?
  • And what happens if you click one column?
  • This multi-triangles behaviour only occurs at opening of Zotero.
    Then clicking on columns works as expected.
    The default order (the one obtained at first click) seems to be ascending for some columns, like Creator, but descending for some others, like Year.
    But somehow this default seems to be inverted for the Secondary Sort. See the screenshot obtained at first click on the column Year: Zotero_Sort_03.png.


  • If you disable all plugins in Zotero, then click through any columns that have the arrow once (as if you wanted to sort the items by that column) and then restart Zotero, do you still see this? Now if you re-enable all extensions, click through all columns and restart Zotero, do you get this bug again?
  • edited July 19, 2022
    See the result of the different steps: Zotero_Sort_04.png.

    1) I have disabled all plugins, then restarted Zotero, which gave the top screenshot in the image.
    2) Then I have clicked on the column Year, giving the second screenshot.
    3) The third screenshot is the results after restarting Zotero. So the arrows are still here, but the direction of the one I clicked changed.
    4) The fourth screenshot is after re-enabling all extensions and restarting.
    5) Fifth is after clicking through all the columns and restarting. So clicking through all columns seems to have some "cleaning" effect. The arrow is kept on the last column that I had clicked, but the actual order of the items is not consistent with the arrow displayed.
    6) Sixth is after clicking on the column header Year. So the bug keeps propagating again after that.

    I guess this shows that there is some kind of memory between closing and reopening of Zotero. But the pattern is not very clear.

    The results were produced on Zotero version 6.0.10-beta.11+b5be7cbd5 on Windows 10.
  • Could you disable all extensions and close Zotero, then go into the Zotero profile directory and rename the treePrefs.json file to treePrefs.json.bak, then restart Zotero. Can you reproduce this bug without any extensions enabled after this?
  • Still the same problem after the steps you have suggested: Zotero_Sort_05.png.
    The screenshot is taken directly after re-opening Zotero, without doing anything more.

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