Data Lost During Sync

mazhanduc
While trying to sync my new laptop to my zotero library, I have lost my zotero files. I noticed they were gone because even on my other tablet, the zotero library is gone. could anyone suggest how I can recover the libraries? I did notice there is a Automatic Zotero Client Key on my account that was updated 2 weeks ago, could I use that to restore my library?
  • dstillman
    It looks like you (or someone with access to your library, such as on a shared computer) deleted all the data in the library on November 21/22.

    Your only option would be to restore from a backup or from a previously synced computer.

    Depending on when exactly you ran Zotero, you may be able to restore from one of the automatic backups Zotero makes.
  • dstillman
    edited November 26, 2024
    And to be clear, this would only happen during a sync if you actually ran Replace Online Library (from the Sync → Reset pane of the Zotero settings) from the new laptop, in which case it would do exactly that: replace your online library with the empty local library. People sometimes do that by mistake.
  • mazhanduc
    Hi, I have been re-building my laptop database since this last messup. I have been nervous to sync as that was the cause of the last problems. I managed to restore the backup but it did not have the full articles, only the highlights and article names.

    Could you advise how I should sync to the online account, without losing the documents?
  • dstillman
    What do you mean by "re-building my laptop database"? What do you mean by "I managed to restore the backup but it did not have the full articles, only the highlights and article names"?

    If you've only made normal local changes to your database, you can just sync normally (which is all you needed to do in the first place). If you actually restored from a backup, you'd have to take additional steps to overwrite your previous deletions online.
  • mazhanduc
    I changed my laptop and tried to sync to the new device and it didn't work. I restored my backup, however the files supporting where no longer available (see the error screenshot).

    While restoring my back up (as the manual instructs) I have turned off syncing. I have since then been updating my zotero through my laptop device. As you see in the two screen shots, my online database and my device database are different, as the sync funtion has been off.

    when I did sync my device database was 'lost' as it matched my online, which negated all the work I had done. I am asking how to sync without losing the progress I have made. See the differences in the two screenshots.
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u9332449/sr5t40dqpirsneh5ljs7.png
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u9332449/823imr01a4obdv2omsi5.png
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u9332449/cuwi8nf8ku09i5tzt4jn.png

    I appreciate your help but please mind your tone with snippy comments such as 'all you needed to do in the first place'. It's already a frustrating system to understand and as a paying customer, I would appreciate it you could be cordial, as I am doing my best to understand.
  • dstillman
    I appreciate your help but please mind your tone with snippy comments such as 'all you needed to do in the first place'.
    If you're going to post here, please assume good faith on the part of the people responding to you. You went deep into the settings and ran a special command that wiped out your library, and then asked here how to avoid that. My explaining that all you need to do on any new computer is to enter your username and password isn't being "snippy" — it's trying to help you not do this again.

    I'm still not clear where your backup is from, but if you restored using an actual Zotero database file, then now is when you do actually need to use "Replace Online Library", as the page I've been linking to explains:

    https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data#restoring_your_zotero_data_from_a_backup_and_overwriting_synced_changes

    If you didn't have attachment files in your backup (i.e., it was just the .sqlite file, not the whole data directory), you'd still be missing those, but if you were using Zotero Storage we may be able to reassociate any that were online previously. But you should first make sure that you're seeing the right data everywhere.
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