help! when I click on articles I have saved to Zotero, an entirely different article comes up!

edited 3 days ago
D1128049003
why is this happening??

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u13700793/6lr8z50rm3b5jkq0mdwh.png
I have uninstalled and reinstalled zotero, alos zotero connector has permission to view all sites.
Please advise!
  • How did you import all these files? I'm afraid your library is all messed up — you have duplicates of most of these files from two separate imports earlier this month, and many (all?) attachment items are associated with the wrong files.
  • Thanks for the reply.

    I am not au fait with technology!

    I searched on 3 databases, then chose an export or save option (e.g. Export to RIS, BibTeX, or EndNote), then used .ris to export to Zotero. There might have been limits to how many I could export at one time; I know I sent some references to my email, too.

    I opened Zotero on the laptop, and imported files into different categories, depending on the search string used (identity or therapy), and database.

    I wanted to look at duplicates and the duplicate category HAD been there, then disappeared.

    I was afraid I was going to lose all my files, so I imported all the files again so I could have an 'untouched' copy of the original haul. Then I set to go through the papers manually as I didn't have the 'duplicate' button, and THEN I found out my titles don't match the articles they have saved, not all the time, but some of the time.

    I am doing a Systematic Literature Review. Please advise.
    Do I need to start over?
  • I'm afraid you'd have to start over at this point, yes. The files are too much of a mess.

    I'm still not clear how you added files, though? Exporting RIS from databases wouldn't give you PDFs.
    I wanted to look at duplicates and the duplicate category HAD been there, then disappeared.
    If you hide the Duplicate Items collection, you can right-click on the library root and choose Show Duplicates to show it again.
  • I have no idea what I did. I think I possibly downloaded pdfs to my computer and then uploaded them. I have been working on this project since last October and have bits of information stashed in different places, it's tricky. I thought I'd use Zotero to try and streamline all the information.

    I have a fair idea of which papers I'll need for my SLR (10). Do you still think it advisable to scrap and start again?

    Clicking right on the library root does not show the option to show duplicates, unfortunately.
  • Should I just trash everything in Zotero and start again?
  • edited 2 days ago
    Well, it depends exactly how you downloaded the PDFs, and also on what you've done to the items.

    You could delete just the attachments (we can tell you how to do that easily) and then re-add the files, either by trying to use right-click → Find Full Text (if you have direct — e.g., on-campus or VPN-based — access to files) or by manually downloading the PDF from each publication page and dragging it onto the relevant item.

    Or if you're using databases where the PDFs are actually available, you could just save them normally using the Zotero Connector, which will attach PDFs if they're available. That also depends on how many items you're saving.

    But you also have duplicates of almost all parent items, so you'd also want to sort by Date Added and delete all but the first set, or merge them, or something like that. Depending on what exactly you need and what you've done to each set of items, it might be easiest to start over and just avoid repeated imports.
  • Thanks for this.
  • Hmmm how to delete all articles?
  • Ok I tried to delete them all at one time, it wouldn't let me, but I did it by file, so now all items are in the trash. Do I need to delete them from there?

    Have you any tips now for me starting over again, and saving properly? I'm going to do string searches in ProQuest APA Psych and PubMed Central.
  • Ok, I'm doing a search on APA PsycNet. I get 483 hits which I'd like to import, but maybe it's too many at one time.

    I try doing it in batches of 50, still no go. I try picking 12, press save to Zotero, nothing; I press save as .ris, still nothing.

    Please advise.
  • I mean, export to .ris. Zotero opens, I can see the name of my library collection, and nothing is exported

  • I was able to save some articles from PsycNet, it wouldn't export to .ris or Zotero.

    First I emailed batches to myself so I would have a copy. I was able to take a screenshot of the search page and that is saved to Zotero, but not the items I wanted.
    Then I turned off the Zotero Connector Chrome extension, THEN I exported to CSV, downloaded to my computer, then imported to Zotero.


    Tell me there is an easier way to do this.
  • edited yesterday at 5:07am
    On APA PsycNet, I'm able to export to RIS (which is all the "Zotero" option is) without trouble. If that's not working for you, you'd have to ask them. It's certainly possible they have some rate limits on exports.

    (Also, there's some confusion here. CSV isn't a format you can import into Zotero — that's just a spreadsheet with no standard structure. You also wouldn't have to disable the Zotero Connector in order to download it.)
  • Great I got all my files imported. There are 3,200 after removing duplicates.

    Is there a way to quickly screen all titles? I can't find anything relevant for this part on the web. I put in 'child' in the search bar, and am scanning the titles of 800+ articles, but some 'not-child' articles are coming up. (it's adults I'm looking for). I am going cross-eyed looking at my computer. Can you advise?
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