Edits in Zotero (browser version) not saving

liammichaud
I am leading a three-person Zotero group library, and all three members have editing privileges.

One of our team members has been working for several days editing citations using the Zotero web browser interface. Unfortunately, their edits do not appear to be saving. They have refreshed the page several times, as have I, but we still cannot see the changes reflected in the program interface, nor when we export.

We are very concerned that hours of work may have been lost. Could you please advise us on how to determine whether the edits can be recovered or are still stored somewhere on Zotero’s servers, and how to proceed?
  • adomasven Zotero Team
    If you do not have the Zotero app installed into your computer, all saves from Zotero Connector (browser extension) land in the primary library of the user "My Library". You can manually move those items into your group library from it.

    To save directly to your group library (and use many other functions of Zotero that are unavailable in the web library) install the Zotero app into your and your colleagues' computers.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    Or if this is about edits made to existing items in the web library, we'd need some specific examples — what exactly they're doing and what exactly is happening.
  • liammichaud
    Thanks for the replies. I checked and the changes are not appearing on my end either in 'My Library' nor in the folders in the 'Group Library'. My colleague, for instance, has been changing article titles from title case to sentence case for APA conformity, but the system is not registering those changes.

    Relatedly, is there a way of ensuring that when I export to create a bibliography that the title capitalization is automatically adjusted to conform with APA (e.g. that title case is changed to sentence case) or does this need to be done manually?
  • liammichaud
    a specific example, if you are able to see it, is the following reference: Jozaghi, E., & Bird, L. (2018). A Plea for Harm Reduction Policing Involving People Who Use Drugs. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 7(8), 766–767. https://doi.org/10.15171/ijhpm.2018.29

    Group library name: Dissertation Refs shared with Erin
    Subfolder name: Conclusion and manual last minute additions
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    There are three copies of that item in the library. One is in sentence case. (Another is in the trash.)
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    edited yesterday at 7:59pm
    In general, though, the report here is a bit convoluted. If your colleague edits an item, the item either updates — and they can see the changes in the web library right there — or it doesn't. If their edits aren't taking, that would obviously be a bug, and they should report exact steps to reproduce it. But assuming they see the changes (and they still see the changes after reloading the page, for good measure), the data is saving properly, and you will see the exact same data, unless you're looking in a different place (e.g., a different item).

    And your colleague obviously can't affect anything in your personal library. The changes would only be in the shared group.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    Relatedly, is there a way of ensuring that when I export to create a bibliography that the title capitalization is automatically adjusted to conform with APA (e.g. that title case is changed to sentence case) or does this need to be done manually?
    It has to be done manually: https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/sentence_casing
  • liammichaud
    Great, I think I've worked both issues out. Many thanks.
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