Zotero - slow when working with a large library

Indira Bermudez
Hello Zotero team!
I hope you’re fine.
In our institution, we recommend the use of Zotero. There is one department where a lot of users share one Zotero group library in common. They all add items, and this library reaches now 10K items with thousands of attachments.
Some users from this group indicate that their computers are running quite slow, and they suspect it is related to Zotero.
My question: where are the attachments saved? Locally? In the Zotero storage? Because in this library a lot of users contribute and maybe their location could be an issue.
Second: data directory. Currently, by default it is in C. I am thinking that maybe all these users could have it in their shared drive. What do you think?
Third, maybe I am barking at the wrong tree! Any idea why finding items to cite and the overall performance of Zotero might be slow for users sharing a relatively large group library?
I am sorry I don’t have any more info. Any light you could share on this will be highly appreciated!
Best regards,
Indira

  • fcheslack
    All users that sync will always have a full copy of the metadata on their computer.

    By default Zotero syncing is set to "download files at sync time" which means all users that join the group and sync would have a full copy of all the data. A copy of all files that have been uploaded are kept in the cloud, which is what allows any new computer to download them.

    If they don't want the space being used, they can change that setting to "download files as needed" for group libraries (as well as their personal library if they like). At that size library I would generally recommend this.

    Having all attachments downloaded would not slow down their computer. It would just take up additional disk space.

    A 10k item library with thousands more attachments is getting large though. Zotero is generally able to handle libraries that large fine, but performance will vary significantly depending on their hardware.

    I'm a little unclear on if you're saying their computers generally are slow or just using Zotero. Regardless of a large library, unless they have Zotero working on something in the background, it should not significantly affect the performance of their computer otherwise. However it can take up a significant chunk of memory if they have for example a bunch of PDFs open.
  • dstillman
    Currently, by default it is in C. I am thinking that maybe all these users could have it in their shared drive.
    No, don't do this. Storing the data directory on a network share can cause problems, and it would certainly make things slower than using the local disk.

    But yes, we'd need more details on exactly what you mean to say more here. People have far larger libraries than 10K items, so there really shouldn't be many performance problems at that size. We'll probably need one of the people experiencing a problem to post here for further debugging.
  • Indira Bermudez
    Hi guys! Thank you so much! Thanks to your inputs I can break up the problem into its parts. I will follow with our users and if needed I will get back to you.
    We can close this ticket. I will only revert to you if things dont improve. But I can see already a thing of two that we can change. Thank you SO MUCH! You, guys, are amazing!
  • tim820
    edited January 20, 2024
    Just like if *any* files fill up your computer's disk drive to almost its capacity, a Zotero library can impact the performance of the computer when not using Zotero (as well when using it). The options to improve things include:
    1. remove other, unnecessary files from the computer's disk drive (including regularly emptying the trash)
    2. get a bigger disk drive
    3. set Zotero to "download files as needed" (as suggested above):
    https://www.zotero.org/support/preferences/sync#file_syncing
    4. delete redundant library items
    5. refine protocols for adding items to the library (to minimize library bloat)


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