Zotero connector in chrome not working

AbiGaiL4563 · 2026-09-22T15:13:45+00:00

Report ID for connector: 742034433
Zotero desktop and connector apparently running fine. If I open a paper on, say, PubMed, and click on the zotero extension button it tries to save to my desktop zotero folder then stops, giving me an error message: "An error occurred while saving this item. See Troubleshooting Translator Issues for more information."
Zotero and chrome are all up to date versions, accessing Zotero via Word is fine, can still add references into a word document.. just can't save anything new into my folder.

dstillman · 2026-09-22T15:14:03+00:00

We always need an example URL for problems with saving. If you're having trouble saving across many sites, see Troubleshooting Problems Saving to Zotero.

AbiGaiL4563 · 2026-09-22T16:25:56+00:00

I'm trying to save papers from Pubmed (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37761893/), but have tried to save from other sites and nothing is working. I've already been through the Troubleshooting Problems Saving to Zotero with no joy!

dstillman · 2026-09-22T16:32:38+00:00

Then see the last step on the troubleshooting page for the information we need to help further. That pages saves fine for me.

adamsmith · 2026-09-22T16:32:46+00:00

We'd need all of the information from step 14, please

AbiGaiL4563 · 2026-09-23T09:12:06+00:00

Okay:
- Website that isnt saving (although none of them are): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37761893/
- Debug ID: D2043719024
- Below are two images, one showing the Error message when i try to save, the other showing the zotero connector translator options.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u11191771/zkecpti3wl7wfxr5xqr2.png
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u11191771/w7i3y6s0nfr1dfgce0j5.png
Thank you!!

dstillman · 2026-09-23T15:06:41+00:00

Can you provide a Debug ID from Zotero (rather than the Zotero Connector) for reloading the page and trying to save?

AbiGaiL4563 · 2026-09-23T15:17:09+00:00

Zotero debug ID: D723894056

dstillman · 2026-09-23T15:31:17+00:00

Error(s) encountered during statement execution: table itemDataValues has no column named valueNormalized

There are all sorts of problems in your Zotero database that will be breaking normal operation. Nothing to do with the Zotero Connector.

Do you have your database in the default location or somewhere else, like a cloud storage folder? Have you done anything unusual with your database, restored from a backup, etc.?

dstillman · 2026-09-23T15:35:07+00:00

Also, if you check your database integrity from the Advanced → Files and Folders pane of the Zotero settings, does it pass or fail?

AbiGaiL4563 · 2026-09-23T15:45:01+00:00

Everything should be standard on this laptop, I haven't done anything to the database. I'm checking databse integrity now but it's taking a very long time and seems to have crashed the software.

dstillman · 2026-09-23T15:50:39+00:00

How large is zotero.sqlite in the data directory?

AbiGaiL4563 · 2026-09-23T16:00:56+00:00

My entire Zotero desktop app is glitching out now - but here's a screenshot of the Zotero folder on my laptop:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u11191771/voa6dx6lyc5xq14lca17.png

dstillman · 2026-09-23T16:10:38+00:00

Yikes, OK, so that's a 6.6 GB database, with another 1.3 GB full-text index next to it. That's…extraordinarily large.

That would explain why the database integrity check isn't finishing. It might just take an extremely long time, or fail altogether.

But your database is almost certainly corrupted — or at least something failed in the Zotero 10 database migration — and now probably any item save will fail, potentially along with various other breakage.

If all your data is online, I'd recommend closing Zotero and moving all those files — all the zotero.sqlite files and fulltext.sqlite, but not the folders — to a temporary folder on your desktop, and then reopening Zotero and letting it pull down data from the server. It will take a while, but what you have there may not be easily fixable. (This would be much easier to troubleshooting on a Mac, but it's harder on Windows.)

AbiGaiL4563 · 2026-09-23T16:20:29+00:00

It's working!!! Just managed to save an article into Zotero. Thank you so much!!! <3

dstillman · 2026-09-23T16:26:35+00:00

OK, I'd be curious to know how large your databases — zotero.sqlite and fulltext.sqlite — end up after syncing and full-text indexing complete. (Zotero might index content in the background while your computer is idle. You can check indexing status from the Advanced pane in the Zotero settings.)