Zotero continually crashing

I have been importing references from OVID searches to a group Zotero library of eight folders on my lap-top (Windows 10) Zotero app. Just before I got the final references transferred it started crashing. The version other members of the group see (and the on-line version) is not the same as the one I have on my Zotero app - different numbers of references and transfer folders have not been deleted. A couple of the folders are large with over 20,000 references listed.
I went to my university IT help desk yesterday - they checked and reinstalled the software and believe that is all ok. They think the data is all there but that it is the synching/communication that is the problem. They wanted to copy the data and transfer to the on-line library, but it was not possible because it was continually crashing. I would be very grateful for any help as this has been a lot of work that we now can't access. Many thanks.
  • Could you submit a Report ID from Zotero?
  • Good morning.
    I have followed the instructions for a Report ID - the result is:
    No errors have been logged since Zotero started.

    version => 6.0.18, platform => Win32, oscpu => Windows NT 10.0; WOW64, locale => en-US, appName => Zotero, appVersion => 6.0.18, extensions => Zotero LibreOffice Integration (6.0.3.SA.6.0.18, extension), Zotero Word for Windows Integration (6.0.2.SA.6.0.18, extension)

  • report ID: 1348303970
  • What do you mean by "crashing"? Is Zotero closing completely, or is it freezing? What exactly do you have to do after Zotero startup to get this to happen?
  • Thank you.
    I think it might be freezing because there is still a tick on the icon and there is no crash report, but the screen goes black so I am not sure. Even if I leave it, it does not return.
    It happens within seconds when I click on any folder in the group library. I cannot open anything in the group library. It doesn't happen on my personal library.
  • Can you go to Help → Debug Output Logging → View Output, position that window so it remains unobstructed, and then reproduce this? If it continues outputting things, let it go. If it freezes, take a screenshot and either upload it somewhere and post a link here or email it to us at support@zotero.org with a link to this thread.
  • I did as you suggested. It will run so far and then everything disappears again. I tried it a couple of time and managed to submit before it disappears again report ID D1350781191. I hope you can pick that up?
  • It looks like it's still loading. How long have you actually waited?

    This library isn't all that big, so it shouldn't take that long, but it might be performing some sort of unexpected cleanup operation. If this is a particularly slow computer or there's something slow about the disk (e.g., a hard drive instead of an SSD, a network share), it's possible there could be a lengthy delay.
  • I am working on a new university Dell laptop so I hope that shouldn't be slow. I think it has been left all day before as I haven't ever closed it when it has gone blank.
    My internet can be slow at home, but the same happens when I am at the university.

    I will leave everything on today and tomorrow and see if it loads.
  • Good morning.

    I have left everything running for the last 24 hours, but there is no change. In fact, I realise that I do not need to click on the group library for the screen to go blank 10-15 seconds after bring up Zotero.

    I am working today so I can leave it to continue to try to load.
  • If you open Task Manager, what do you see for Zotero? What's the CPU usage and memory usage?
  • I have just checked again and I actually cannot see Zotero listed on task manager at all. When I re click on the Zotero icon it opens
    CPU 30%
    memory 2,477.3 MB
    But then disappears after approx 15 seconds when Zotero goes off screen
  • Can you just scroll down to find it, or search the list? (I don't have Task Manager in front of me.)
  • I can't see a search option. I scrolled through everything a couple of times to check. It only came up listed under apps when I reopened Zotero, and then only stayed while it was on screen
  • just seen an app history - says since 31/10/22 and Zotero is not listed
  • nothing under 'details'
  • But you're saying you still see the Zotero window on screen? But it's disappearing from all panes in Task Manager?
  • no - it goes off task manager when Zotero goes off screen
  • edited November 30, 2022
    Oh, well sure — but I thought you were saying that Zotero stays open. If it's at 2.5 GB memory and the window is disappearing, it's just getting closed by the OS. Unfortunately on Windows Zotero is currently limited to ~3 GB memory. This will be fixed in Zotero 7 next year.

    I'm not sure why it'd be using anywhere near that much memory for you, though, unless you did a lot of extremely large imports. Your online library has ~4000 top-level items, which shouldn't use anything near that much memory. Do you know roughly how many items you imported locally that haven't yet synced?
  • If you haven't yet, you can try restarting your computer and opening Zotero with nothing else running, but unfortunately the memory limit here is specific to Zotero, so it mostly wouldn't be affected by total system memory or memory usage.
  • two of the folders have over 20,000 refs. I seemed to be able to import 500-1000 refs at a time. It was only when I got to the last import that everything stopped.
  • I have just again tried restarting. I opened Zotero with nothing else running. It stayed open for only very marginally longer i.e. maybe 20-30 seconds
  • I'm afraid the best I can suggest is to 1) transfer this data directory to a Mac or Linux computer or 2) (backup and) delete the data directory and sync to pull down your data from the online library from before the imports. I think you'd have to have accidentally run many more imports to get this sort of memory usage, but hard to say for sure, so at this point reverting to the previously working server copy and then (carefully) repeating any non-imported items is probably your best bet.

    Again, we'll be addressing this memory limit on Windows in Zotero 7 next year, but this really isn't something that people with even very large libraries experience regularly report experiencing on Windows, so I'm not really sure what else to tell you.
  • My university IT helpdesk tried to transfer the data, but it kept closing too quickly to do it...
    I think it will be difficult to work out what has got to the on-line library and what has not. This is a new library so there was nothing before.

    When you say 'carefully' - what do you mean? I imported one RIS folder from OVID at a time and checked the import had reached the library; I then moved the batch of references into the required folder, checked the number had transferred, then deleted the RIS file before doing the next import. I moved the references in batches of 500 or 1000 as I understood that it would be unlikely to work/ be too slow to move all at once. It seemed to work well until the very end when I tried to import the last 800 refs - it remained open and functioning until then. The on-line group library, and what the other members of the group see is not the same so the synching does not seem to have been up to date even before it kept closing at my end.

    I will go back to my IT helpdesk with what you have said, but as far as I can see it looks like I am going to have to do all the imports again and use a different manager as we are having to do the work in this way - importing all refs in the searches and reviewing on the manager. I can't see how I could do it any differently on Zotero to be sure it won't do this again??
  • You don't need to (or want to) open Zotero to transfer the data to another computer. The page I linked to explains how to do it — it's just copying a folder.
  • ah - ok thanks - gives me some hope!
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