Empty Files

daniel_1996
Dear all,

Have not done anything. Suddenly have thousands of empty files in my library (in addition to my manually added sources).

What can I do? Just delete it? Does anyone have the same problem?

Thanks in advance!
  • dstillman
    Not sure what you mean by "thousands of empty files". Can you provide a screenshot?
  • daniel_1996
    Hi, yes, sure.
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u15354746/doxxkmctp4t2j31yyfj5.png
    They all look like that and appeared suddenly.
  • dstillman
    These are from November 16, 2023. It looks like you (or someone with access to the library, if this is synced) did an import of some not-very-good data.

    If you don't want them, you can just delete them.
  • daniel_1996
    The strange thing is, it appeared today. Normally, I just add books, papers etc. through the doi/ISBN. I haven't imported something so far. Is this problem already known and is it safe to just delete the files? (no negative impact on the existing library?) Thank you!
  • dstillman
    This isn't some general "problem" — this is something you or someone with access to this library did. You can see the Date Added yourself, which doesn't lie. Again, this could've been on some other computer and just synced today, but I promise you these items have been in some copy of this library since last November. (The account you're posting from has never synced, but if you're syncing with a different account and you tell us the account name, we can confirm this.)
  • daniel_1996
    edited October 9, 2024
    Alright, thank you. Do you just need my user name from which zotero is syncing?
  • dstillman
    Yes, either here or in an email to support@zotero.org with a link to this thread.
  • daniel_1996
    It is schmidtdaniel
  • dstillman
    OK, those were all uploaded today.

    It looks like you synced today from both Zotero 6 and Zotero 7. Did you upgrade, or did you sync multiple computers?

    In any case, one way or another, these items are all from November 2023, and you should just delete them.
  • daniel_1996
    Yes, I did upgrade to Zotero 7. But the files were already there. No, Iam not syncing from multiple devices. Alright, I will just delete them. Anything else I should do?
  • daniel_1996
    edited October 9, 2024
    Would have one other question: If a certain entry is deleted from the library, would it automatically be deleted from the Word document as well? Or does it stay. For example, if every entry were deleted in the library would the already cited sources remain in the document or would they disappear as well? Thank you again!
  • adamsmith
    No, entries deleted from Zotero aren't removed from Word docs that cite them
  • daniel_1996
    Alright. Thank you!
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