Chrome plugin absolutely draining memory

speasley
With the Zotero Connector running, Chrome is nearly unusable. If there is not a memory leak in the plugin, it is so memory intensive that I cannot run it. Is this a bug? Is anyone else experiencing this?

I'm running Chrome v116.0.5845.96
  • dstillman
    We haven't gotten any other reports of this, no.

    If you go to Window → Task Manager in Chrome, what does it say for Zotero Connector?

    What happens after restarting your browser? Disabling all other browser extensions?
  • alehandro112
    I have the same issue on Mac.

    In chrome 135.0.7049.85 (Official Build) (x86_64):

    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u3598492/qlzmqhu5et099y39lmcv.png
  • coruscant
    Same issue on Chrome 135 on Linux, 5-7GB usage
  • dstillman
    @alehandro112, @alehandro112: See my questions about restarting and other extensions.
  • asrelo
    Noticed a similar issue, right now Zotero Connector occupies almost 2GB of RAM. The number seems to increase by a few megabytes sometimes on opening a new tab (the home page is standard Chrome "new tab"), but it never seems to go down until a browser is restarted.

    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u17295298/rsr5e9kep4sndamzoaod.png

    (Name says "Subframe: Zotero Connector")

    Other browser extensions seem to have no effect on this.
  • fschuman
    Same issue on Edge 136 on macOS (Apple Silicon), ~5GB usage.
  • ddcttrl
    Huge problem on chrome
  • ddcttrl
    possibly relevant: Info: Service worker starts: 2025-06-24 15:26:59 2025-06-24 21:05:44

    [JavaScript Error: "Error: OfscreenTranslate: Attempting to access a translate without initializing it first for tab: 31532423
    at Object._getTranslateInstance (chrome-extension://ekhagklcjbdpajgpjgmbionohlpdbjgc/offscreen/offscreenTranslate.js:156:10)
    at Object.Translate.setDocument (chrome-extension://ekhagklcjbdpajgpjgmbionohlpdbjgc/offscreen/offscreenTranslate.js:144:26)
    at chrome-extension://ekhagklcjbdpajgpjgmbionohlpdbjgc/messagingGeneric.js:165:46
    at serviceWorkerPort.onmessage (chrome-extension://ekhagklcjbdpajgpjgmbionohlpdbjgc/offscreen/offscreenSandbox.js:65:41)" {file: "[object Object]"}]
  • adomasven
    We would be happy to look into this, but someone will have to describe what it takes for this to happen? Does it just passively increase in memory? Does it matter which websites you use, or how many tabs you have open?
  • fschuman
    edited 17 days ago
    Not sure this will be helpful, but I'll try.

    So far, I can't isolate a specific webpage or behaviour that causes this.

    - I keep edge on macos open most of the time. Many tabs, many workspaces, which I actively use and switch back and forth from.

    - Over a span of days, I regularily notice Edge taking massive memory - which turns out to be the Zotero connector.

    I can report that it happens reliably, i.e. every few days after restarting the Zotero connector.

    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u1124280/k2tjwgiariiieecuu5ms.png
  • adomasven
    @alehandro112 @coruscant @asrelo @fschuman @ddcttrl and others that experience this, could you:
    1. Go to chrome://extensions/?id=ekhagklcjbdpajgpjgmbionohlpdbjgc,
    2. Toggle the "Developer mode" toggle at the top-right of the page to switched on position,
    3. Click on offscreen/offscreen.html under Inspect views section. A developer tools window will open.
    4. In the developer tools window switch to Memory tab. Select "Heap snapshot", then press "Take Snapshot" button below. "Snapshot 1" will appear in the left pane.
    5. Right-click the Snapshot 1, select "Save profile"

    Send the saved file to support@zotero.org with a link to this thread.
  • ShotaiFumei
    I just disabled the extension so I don't have the graphs, but I can confirm that this problem has been there since at least this thread was created. For a long time (~> 1 year), I've been only enabling it when I need it using an extension manager, partly also due to the reason that it can't be configured to access only specific sites.
  • fschuman
    @adomasven, done.
  • dstillman
    OK, we tracked this down to a bug in Chrome. We've put a workaround in place in Zotero Connector 5.0.171, available now. Please try that and let us know if you're still seeing this.
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