Zotero not opening

afrjc
Hi there,

I know I've got a 'complicated' library, and have tried not to bother you with crash reports, but for the last 5 days or so I've been entirely unable to open my library. Is there anything I can do to get the library back working and Zotero back up?

I can't send an error report because I can't get Zotero to open.

Thanks
  • dstillman
    What exactly happens? What OS?

    It looks like you've had some weird issues before. Is your Zotero data directory in the default location?
  • afrjc
    [Repeated from an email: I'm not sure which you prefer]

    Hi, thanks for the quick reply.

    What happens: I closed the app about five days ago and restarted the machine. Since then when I go to start the app it begins, the screen comes up, it says its loading the library, hangs there for a while, then crashes. Like I said, I've tried this multiple times, with restarts in between, since 4 or five days ago.

    I have Windows Home 10.

    Yes, I've had weird issues before. It's a large library with lots and lots of notes, and those notes have nots and lots of links between them.

    I believe the Zotero directory is in its usual spot -- I don't recall setting it differently. Is there somewhere I should look for it to make sure?

    Thanks again for any help you can give.

    Rich
  • afrjc
    I just followed the link to finding the Zotero data directory -- the zotero.sqlite file is in the default location, in the C:\Users\\Zotero folder.
  • dstillman
    edited August 16, 2022
    Do you get any sort of crash report from Windows?

    If you look in Task Manager at memory usage for zotero.exe, how high does it get before the crash?

    Do you have any third-party plugins installed? If so, have you tried disabling them?
  • afrjc
    no, no crash report from Windows.

    Watching the task manager, memory started by fluctuating around 2000 MB, went down to 1000 MB for a bit, then before crashing went up and up to 3000 MB, which was where it crashed.

    No, no plugins installed in Zotero.
  • dstillman
    OK, so you're just hitting the memory limit of the Windows app, which is around 3 GB for technical reasons. It's certainly surprising that you're seeing that just from opening Zotero, but there may be something specific about your library that Zotero is just not currently handling well in terms of memory usage.

    Just to check, did you have PDF tabs open? If so, closing those before it crashes would help.

    We hope to have a new version of the Windows app that supports an unlimited amount of memory within the next few months.
  • afrjc
    OK, thanks. No, PDF tabs weren't open, so that's not part of it.
  • dstillman
    If possible, can you provide a Debug ID from Zotero startup through to a point where it's been loading for a while but hasn't yet crashed?
  • afrjc
    OK, I didn't know this was possible -- thanks for the tip.

    Here's one Debug ID: D413457838 (it was hard to get the timing right, the copy/paste function only seemed to work so long as Zotero hadn't crashed yet)
  • dstillman
    Can you start with -ZoteroDebug following those instructions, position the debug window so that you can still see it, and record the screen so we can see exactly what's being logged before it crashes? If so, please share a link to that video (or just a frame from the end, before the crash) here or email it to support@zotero.org with a link to this thread.
  • afrjc
    I've sent an email to support with a video attached and a link to this thread.
  • dstillman
    Oh wow. OK, so when you said you have a "complicated" library…you meant it. There been almost 7 million items in this library in the past, and there are millions of related-item relations between items, which is what's causing this to freeze. I believe many of those are pointing to items that no longer exist, which would be a bug that we'd need to fix.

    So, yes, this is likely very specific to your workflow (which I guess involves creating huge numbers of items, relating them, and deleting them?) and also potentially a bug that needs to be fixed for everyone. We'll investigate.
  • afrjc
    Yes... complicated. First, thanks for looking in to it, I certainly appreciate it.

    The 'deletions' in the workflow were a thing I tried for a while to gain control -- through duplicating notes (with all their relations) over and over until one would list higher in the relations -- over the order in which the item would be viewed from other notes. I've largely given that up in the workflow now given hassles even on my end of things. I thought (mistakenly it seems) that the deleted notes (and relations) went 'away' and couldn't cause problems...

    But yes, I use the notes function in the bibliography like an old-time (but much more powerful) card catalogue with hyperlinked cross referencing and tags -- there are quotes and notes and themes referenced to each other throughout the library.

    Again, I appreciate anything you guys can do. I realize I've pushed the software in ways it probably wasn't designed for. I'm willing to do things on my end insofar as I can, too, to gain back the work and be able (hopefully) to keep going.

    Thanks,

    r
  • afrjc
    Hello again,

    On August 16th, dstillman wrote: "OK, so you're just hitting the memory limit of the Windows app, which is around 3 GB for technical reasons. It's certainly surprising that you're seeing that just from opening Zotero, but there may be something specific about your library that Zotero is just not currently handling well in terms of memory usage. Just to check, did you have PDF tabs open? If so, closing those before it crashes would help. We hope to have a new version of the Windows app that supports an unlimited amount of memory within the next few months."

    I wondered if you guys were making progress on supporting unlimited memory during opening -- I still can't get my library to open, and would dearly love to be able to use it again.
  • dstillman
    We're hoping to offer a 64-bit version of Zotero 7 next year (with a beta sooner).
  • warguelles
    We're hoping to offer a 64-bit version of Zotero 7 next year (with a beta sooner).
    Wowwww! This is really very good news!
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