Lost Some Files After Zotero Update

gazer104
Hello, I lost some files (mostly with annotations) after a Zotero update. I tried troubleshooting by renaming zotero.sqlite to zotero.sqlite.bak and zotero.sqlite.bak to zotero.sqlite, but it did not work.

How can I go about solving this problem?. Thanks.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    A Zotero update wouldn't cause you to lose data. If you say more about what the actual problem is, we might be able to tell you more.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    edited January 14, 2026
    You do, however, appear to have permanently deleted thousands of items in the last week.

    If you're syncing with another computer, you should be able to restore from that or from one of its automatic backups.

    If this happened within the last couple days, you should also be able to restore from one of the automatic backups on this computer, but only if you followed the steps carefully (i.e., disabled auto-sync and made backups of the backups):

    https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data#restoring_from_the_last_automatic_backup
  • gazer104
    edited January 15, 2026
    Hello, thanks for the reply. I just realized that I might have just deleted those files unknowingly and just noticed it after the update. I deleted Duplicate Items with the assumption that only the duplicate copy will be there and if I delete it, one copy will remain in the library, and then emptied the trash. I was able to restore the files but links to the file were broken, thus still cant open it.
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