Stuck on loading screen, then error message (Mac + Google Drive)

italoalves
edited August 13, 2023
Hi all,

I've been using Zotero for years with my files stored on Google Drive. When I opened it today, however, it got stuck on the initial loading screen. After a few minutes, I got the error message below and had to force quit Zotero. This happened a few times.

__________________
Error

There was an error starting Zotero.

You can report this problem in the Zotero Forums.

Error: Could not open connection to /Users/italo/Library/CloudStorage /GoogleDrive-[my email address]@gmail.com/Meine Ablage/OUTROS
/ZOTERO/Profiles/tOt82 kum.default/zotero/zotero.sqlite: 2153971714
openConnection/</<@resource://gre/modules/Sqlite.jsm:945:21
From previous event:

Zotero.DBConnection.prototype._getConnectionAsync@chrome://zotero
/content/xpcom/db.js: 1191:30
__________________

I've tried uninstalling Zotero, erasing the Application Support>Zotero folder, and installing it again, but nothing changes. I noticed that the Activity tab on my Google Drive doesn't show that the sqlite file has been downloaded, as it always did when I opened Zotero, so it seems like Zotero is not able to open the file itself, for some reason.

Any thoughts?
  • italoalves
    Update: The workaround was copying my database from Google Drive to Onedrive. It's now working as usual. Still, I wish I knew what the problem was with Google Drive was.
  • poettli
    edited August 13, 2023
    It is a bad idea to store your Zotero data directory in a cloud storage folder:
    https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/data_directory_in_cloud_storage_folder
  • italoalves
    @poettli I understand that files can be corrupted if I share a database from two different computers, but I only use Zotero on one machine (been doing this for 8+ years now). It seems that my files were not corrupted; otherwise, they wouldn't be accessible now that they're on OneDrive. If you have any idea what might be going on with Google Drive now, I'd appreciate your input.
  • dstillman
    edited August 13, 2023
    The linked page says everything we can say on this.
    However, people do occasionally encounter odd problems resulting from cloud storage folders not behaving like normal filesystem folders, and we're not able to provide any support for such problems.
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