All my data is gone

tam_woj · May 14, 2025

Hi,
my computer had to be rested and i lost all my data that was saved in Zotero. I'm sure i had it synced since it worked on another comupter just fine. Is there anything I can do to get it back?
Thanks!

dstillman · May 14, 2025

You (or someone with access to your account) deleted all the data in your library about 20 minutes ago.

That would happen if, when you set up this computer, you used "Replace Online Library" from your empty local library by mistake — that would wipe out your online library. Setting up a new computer simply requires syncing.

In that case, your only option would be restoring from a backup of your Zotero database.

damnation · May 14, 2025

All you need to do is set up sync on your "new" computer and it will download everything.
https://www.zotero.org/support/sync

You can also check if you have the data synced with you click in "Web Library" up top.

tam_woj · May 15, 2025

Unfortunately nothing helped, but thank you for your answers!!

damnation · May 15, 2025

Do you have some Word documents where you had citations?
If so you can extract those and at least won't have to start from 0.

tam_woj · May 15, 2025

Yes fortunately I do, but do you know if I can do it all at once or do I have to do it manually one by one?

damnation · May 15, 2025

All at once. Use this:
https://rintze.zelle.me/ref-extractor/

tam_woj · May 15, 2025

Thank you so much!!