all items in library duplicated after installing on new computer

sophisteria
All the items in my main root library have been duplicated at some point in the process of setting up zotero on my new computer. (running Mac OS Ventura 13.4.1 (c))

Sub-libraries seem to be OK, but the main library has two of everything.
I had more than 3500+ items before this... and now have over 7000...

Hope you can suggest how to fix this (and what might have caused it).
I already tried deleting the app and reinstalling it, but that didn't help.
  • adamsmith
    How exactly did you move between computers? Duplicating items would be the result of using import/export in addition to sync (and if that's what you did, you should be able to sort by date added and delete the imported set by deleting all recently added items, leaving the synced ones in place.

    Also makes sure to restart Zotero and look again -- while it's rare, there have been very occasional reports of people seeing items as duplicate as a result of a display bug.
  • sophisteria
    Yes, I think this is what happened, as the IT person helping me didn't know the programme, so imported the refs and they also synced.
    I can see the duplicates are in the version of 'my library' in Zotero's storage too...
    Is there a quick way to delete all items added on a particular date?
  • adamsmith
    Yes, you can sort by date added in the center lane and then select using shift click. Add "Date Added" as a column (if you don't already see it ) by right clicking on the column header in the center pane.
  • sophisteria
    Thanks, I have figured out how to see the 'date added' column, but I'm afraid I don't understand your instructions for selecting all refs added on a certain date, or the next step of bulk delete. Obviously, I am worried that I will lose a lot of references collected over many years, so don't want to mess with this before I understand it.
    I am using a Mac, by the way.
  • dstillman
    You just click on the Date Added column to sort by that column, and then you can select the entire set of items imported at the same time and delete them.
  • sophisteria
    Thanks for responding again, but my question is: how do I select these items, once I have sorted my refs by date so they are all together? Do I have to click individually on each of these 3500 items, or is there an easier/quicker way of selecting them all in one go?
  • dstillman
    edited September 4, 2023
    The same way you select anything in any list in any computer program — click the first one, hold down Shift, and click the last one.
  • sophisteria
    Alright, I actually didn't know that, and now selected all those. However, the 'delete' command in the 'edit' menu is greyed out. Am I doing something wrong? I'm really sorry to be a pain.
  • adamsmith
    Right-click (Ctrl+click) --> move items to trash (or just the delete button)
  • sophisteria
    Fixed!! Thanks so much for your patient help.
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