lost zotero library, restore from word document bibliography?

SophiaYW
I've been working on a manuscript for several months now, using zotero for the citations and bibliography. Unfortunately, my computer crashed and though I was able to save the manuscript, I was not able to save most of the zotero database. Is there some way I can restore the missing library entries from the bibliography in my word document (created by zotero), at least so I don't have the irritating error messages popping up about citations missing when I try to edit them?

Thanks so much in advance!
  • adamsmith
    no. you can remove Zotero field codes (which will take care of the error message), using the button with the broken chain symbol in the word plugin, but you can't get any part of the library back from a bibliography.

    No backup at all? No syncing?
  • SophiaYW
    Yeah...I'm kicking myself right now. I thought (while I was restoring my system) that I had backed up the Zotero database but apparently I didn't do it correctly. I got a lot of it back by making Zotero find metadata on my PDF's, but not all of it. I haven't gotten around to exploring the syncing function, but after this is all fixed I am definitely going to make that a priority!

    If I remove Zotero field codes on the missing citations, will they disappear from the bibliography, or otherwise mess up the numbering on the citations that are still synced to the database?
  • adamsmith
    when you remove the field codes the document will look as it does now, but with no connection to Zotero anymore - including no connection to the citations that you've already fixed.
  • juanalp
    I have the same problem, but i found out that i had synchronized my library, how do I restablish my library in my computer from the one I have storaged? Once I do that will my documents recognize the references again?
  • juanalp
    I'm afraid that syncing, the library I have in my account wil be syncrhronized with my computer, where i have an older back-up of my library and not the contrary. Does it always sinchronize with tha lattest adds? Or it takes what is in the computer library? (I'm thinking in what happens to an IPod that is connected to an empty Itunes library)
  • adamsmith
    generally sync adds the newest version of everything.
    There is also an option to "restore from server" in thy sync tab of the preferences. For your purposes that might be safer.
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