Mac Solution "A copy of Zotero is already open. Only one copy of Zotero can be open at a time" err

gruberte
Hi forums,

I know there are a few discussion threads about the error message with Standalone "A copy of Zotero is already open. Only one copy of Zotero can be open at a time." -- the published recommendation is to restart the computer, which works but is super annoying.

I wanted to chime in that after a few weeks, I figured out a way to avoid restart on a Mac -- in Activity Monitor, there's a very low CPU usage process called "zotero-bin" when I get that error message. When I force quit it through the "x" in the upper left of the Activity Monitor toolbar, Zotero Standalone opens just fine and I don't get the error message.

Hope this helps someone!
  • dstillman
    That should never be necessary, though — if that's happening regularly, there's some issue on your computer. Do you have your Zotero data directory on a network drive or in a cloud/network-synced storage location? Are you running any security software?
  • gruberte
    Thanks, yep, it's definitely an issue on my computer (related to using an HDMI to USB adapter to run a second monitor off a 3 year old laptop and replicable by minimizing iTunes, of all things), but since I don't expect it to be solved externally, I thought this might be useful for other folks some day as it took me quite a while to figure it out.
  • oneillkza
    I had a similar problem on Mac OSX, but didn't find any processes running. Deleting the Zotero data directory and then re-synching solved it for me.

    I think this happened because of a system crash while Zotero was running -- hopefully it doesn't happen again!
  • nathan.hopson
    Running fully updated Sierra and Zotero standalone.
    Same problem as reported above. Similarly seems to have been caused by a system crash.
    Deleting Zotero directory does not solve the issue, even after emptying Trash.
    Will report if restart doesn't help either.
  • connorwood
    This worked for me. Thanks.
  • adamsmith
    Where the above solution _doesn't_ help -- the solution described here for Firefox
    http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/196771/cant-open-firefox-because-a-copy-of-firefox-is-already-open/238169#238169
    applies to Zotero Standalone as well.
  • josolma
    gruberte's Activity Monitor solution worked for me, thanks!
  • Flaugher
    This worked for me! Just use Finder to locate Activity Monitor on Mac and delete the instance of Zotero!
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