"Citation no longer exists" error after reinstall

Julian Porto
I recently did a complete reinstallation of Windows Vista and all other software, including Firefox (3.0.4) and Zotero (1.0.10) which I use with Open Office Writer(3.0.0). Now when I try to insert or edit citations in documents which I created prior to reinstallation, I receive the message "This citation no longer exists in the Zotero database. Delete it?" I then have to say "Yes" or "No" for each individual citation in the document. The same problem appears not to occur with documents created post-reinstall.
I have looked around on the forum a little, and I guess that this is an effect of me not doing the recommended backup procedure, but instead exporting and then re-importing my Zotero library in the rdf-format.

Now, before I start re-entering manually all the references I wanted to ask whether there may still be another way. As it happens, I did not only export my library as rdf, but also in some of the other formats that one can choose from (such as BibTex, html, xml). (I thought I'd be on the safe side that way - not very clever!) If I used one of these, would it work then?
I know that I could simply try it out, but I have created enough damage already, so I want to check first.
Any help is appreciated...
  • noksagt
    have looked around on the forum a little, and I guess that this is an effect of me not doing the recommended backup procedure, but instead exporting and then re-importing my Zotero library in the rdf-format.
    Correct.
    did not only export my library as rdf, but also in some of the other formats that one can choose from (such as BibTex, html, xml). (I thought I'd be on the safe side that way - not very clever!) If I used one of these, would it work then?
    No. The unique record IDs are not exported in any format. None of the export formats are intended to be lossless. The Zotero RDF format is the least lossy, though.
  • Julian Porto
    Thanks!
    Not quite what I would have liked to hear, but it is what I expected.

This is an old discussion that has not been active in a long time. Instead of commenting here, you should start a new discussion. If you think the content of this discussion is still relevant, you can link to it from your new discussion.