Thanks. I have restarted Firefox, several times. I did as you suggested, and tried manual sync. It let me get started, and then said something like "getting data from the server" for well over an hour. Now I'm back to where I started.

I've been using this version of Zotero for awhile, and this has actually been a problem for awhile, but I didn't know it till I tried to restore something and saw that my last sync was 152 days ago, despite the happy whirring of the green arrow.

No error ID to report - I check as the link you sent suggested.

Any other ideas? Thanks.

Thanks for this. Firefox hasn't frozen, just Zotero's sync: the little green arrow is whirring, and I haven't restarted Firefox since the last time I tried to download, which was about 3 hours ago. It still says my last sync on this computer was 152 days ago, and it officially offers me the option of syncing when I scoll over the green arrow, but it won't let me click on that and the green arrow is still moving. Automatic syncing is turned off, so it may still be processing the download ... but that's quite a long time.?

I did download to computer B, the one that works, about 4 hours ago, but indeed have tried at least 3 times on computer A, the problem child.
Thanks

I'm having similar problems. I first set up zotero on my work computer. Then, at home, I set up zotero but it did not pull in any of the items I had put in my library at work. I created a small collection at home. Back at work the next day, I finally got it to sync. I now had all the items I had collected while at work, plus the items I had collected at home. Now, I'm back at home. Here, my collection started out as I had left it at home the previous evening. It did not pull in any of the items I had collected at work on the second day.

Then I restarted Firefox. When I checked my collection, one of the sub folders appeared twice. Also, a bunch of items appeared in the wrong folder.

It appears to me that the syncing with the server is lagging way behind the changes I am making. As a result, when I go to a different computer and it does sync, I find my items in a state that they were in at some previous time, but not the most recent time that I worked on my collection.

Is there something I need to do in order to get the syncing to get caught up?

Thanks.

The problem is fixed.
I don't know why.
But after a number of iteration of restarting of all firefox with zotero on all my PCs, Syncing started.

Thanks.

Still no sync, after a total of 7 hours. I don't know whether to close Firefox or not.

Yes, restart Firefox.

Extended sync queues are no longer an issue. We're investigating the cause of the recent spate of unending spinning reports, but they're not due to server load, and there's no actual sync activity, so just restart Firefox.

OH NO: The whirring green arrow is back, and no sync to the server! (In other words, I'm inputing but it isn't showing up on the server version. I have auto backup UNchecked, so there shouldn't be whirring at all.)

Sorry, but I have to add one more detail: Although Zotero is partially or fully syncing to the computer, it doesn't know it. When I scroll over the green arrow, it still says "last sync 153 days ago." And, again, this is even when the server has taken on new items -- although it is not registering my deletes, as I said above.

OK: Debug ID:
D1849741039

Once in the 20+ times I've done this, I got a sync error exclamation point, but that disappeared before I could even click on it. However, the error icon did show up during the sync that I sent you the debugging info for. Anyway, I did what you suggested, and the sync did what it has done before: first the constant whirring. Then, after a restart, all the new items are on the server, and everything I had tried to delete is also on the server and back in my local Zotero.

I ran the debugging process again, since I think that might have been an unusual sync, and since the work-around didn't work. Here's the ID:
D1650394314

thanks.

Also, you should be able to see whether a download took place based on whether Firefox froze and the number of lines in the debug output went up greatly. The workaround I suggested above would only be useful in that situation, since that's when you'd see the error. I would leave that setting set until this is resolved.

The blue bar is the file sync step, and it happens—only—after a successful metadata sync. You can hover over it to see progress.

What does it say now when you hover over the sync icon?

And this time, restart Firefox, sync, and provide a Report ID (not a Debug ID).

That doesn't appear to be a valid Report ID.

note that you can copy and paste the number from the error report window.

I'd temporarily disable automatic syncing - the reason you can't manually sync is that Zotero thinks (correctly or not) that it's already in the middle of a sync process.

BINGO! We have a winner!

After watching my green arrow spin for 7 days,having rebooted, restarted FF several times and disabled extensions, I figured it was time to investigate and found this thread with adamsmith's great advice. I turned off autosync, restarted FF, did a manual sync and BAM...it synced! Thanks!

Upgrade to Zotero 2.1.8, now available from zotero.org, and try again.