Since you can reproduce this so easily, it'd also be very helpful if you could create a new Firefox profile, install Zotero into it, and set it to use your existing Zotero data directory from the Advanced pane of the Zotero preferences. Then see if the problem still occurs in that profile.
I'm currently experiencing these problems using only the "pane" mode.
I have no idea what a "hidden recursiveCollections" is. But, I minimize the Zotero "pane" until I need it, then when it's opened it only takes about the lower 30% of the screen. If I need a larger Zotero pane, I don't toggle, I just increase the size manually and then reduce it back to the 30%.
I hope the others who are experiencing "display errors" will contribute because it'd be nice to get this problem diagnosed and fixed.
I don't know if this helps, but one time, and it's only happened once, but about two months ago I was moving folders around on my hard drive using Windows Explorer. I had moved a folder to another folder, but it still displayed in the previous location. I thought, "wow" this is acting like Zotero. I closed WE and re-opened it. The folder was now in it's new location and didn't display in the old location. I have used WE many times since then and it's never happened again. I figured the Zotero problems were related to a problem with my system until I read this thread today. How could other users, with MAC and Windows be experiencing Zotero "display" issues? Perhaps all of our computers are infected with the same virus? Or could it have something to do with RAM not working right?
I'll try creating a new Firefox profile as you suggested, but I won't be able to attempt it until about 7:30 pm, MDT.
Step 1: I had just moved an item from Alva Hendee's "To Do" collection to it's permanent "Docs 014–018" and "Research Log" collections. I went back to the "To Do" collection to remove it and two listings displayed for that item. I didn't know which one to remove? Which one of the two is the "ghost" item? Should I have tried to remove both listings? So, I got the report ID and minimized the Zotero pane.
Step 2: after typing Step 1 of this email I opened the Zotero pane. I selected the "Docs 014–018" and "Research Log" collections and it displayed correctly. I then selected the "To Do" collection and only one listing displayed for that item. I minimized the pane, while I typed this.
Step 3: I opened the Zotero pane, removed the item from the "To Do" collection, and it appeared to be gone. Selected the "Docs 014–018" and "Research Log" collections and again verified the item displayed correctly. I then selected the "To Do" collection and sure enough the item was still gone. At least this time I didn't have to restart Firefox to make it disappear from the "To Do" collection.
Here's the error report ID after completing the above steps: ID 1670430267
SteveM: Does this happen if you disable auto-sync in the Sync pane of the Zotero preferences, restart Firefox, and try again without syncing? [Edit: Actually you just have some small uploads, so I doubt that's related, but we might as well try to eliminate variables.]
Step 1: disabled the auto sync and restarted Firefox.
Step 2: added a new item. Copied it from "To Do" to "Research Log" and "Docs 024–027" and went back to "To Do" and now there's two items displayed for that new item.
Step 3: Minimized the Zotero pane so I could type this.
Step 4: opened the Zotero pane and it still displays two items for the new item.
Step 5: selected the "Research Log" and "Docs 024–027" collections, they display the item correctly.
Step 5: selected "To Do" and now it displays only one item for the new item.
Step 6: removed the item from "To Do" and it removed without a problem.
Step 7: selected "Docs 024–027", "Research Log" and finally "To Do" and the collections all display correctly.
Theory: Seems to be some sort of time lag going on. I wonder if my anti-virus software is causing this? Lately, I'm getting the impression that every MS Word or MS Excel, etc. document I open there's a short lag before the program opens the document. Also, when I attach a document to an email or try to open an email attachment there's a short lag, as if the anti-virus is scanning it.
As I create a new "item" and add it to a new "collection" could the anti-virus program be trying to scan it before its placed in a folder. Then, when it's finished scanning and I switch between collections the duplicate or "ghost" item goes away because the anti-virus has allowed it to be deposited into some folder? Thoughts from a person who knows very little about operating systems.
This theory doesn't explain how sometimes when I open a collection there are many items displayed that have nothing to do with that collection.
At the end of typing all this I decided to add an error report ID 1704153445
The data within Zotero is stored in a database, so anti-virus shouldn't affect that, but you could try disable it. There's definitely something extremely weird going on on your system.
Even though I couldn't reproduce it with your database, you might as well try the repaired database from the DB Repair Tool, just in case there's some sort of strange issue with your database.
If that doesn't help, I think I'd have to suggest trying on another computer if possible. If you have access to a flash drive or external hard drive, it'd be good to just transfer your data directory just so that you're using the exact same database, but if you transferred via syncing that could still be instructive.
I wished the other users who contributed to this thread would say something. Are they still having symptoms?
Step 1: copied an item, 1850 census, from the Library and added it to the "To Do" collection.
Step 2: examined the 1850 census on Ancestry.com for the person I'm researching and found him. Printed the results and assigned the documents "Docs 028–029".
Step 3: created a new collection "Docs 028–029".
Step 4: copied the item from the "To Do" collection into the "Docs 028–029" and "Research Log" collections.
Step 5: selected the "Docs 028–029" collection and not only was the 1850 census item in there as it should be, but there was a strange item, some county history item, that doesn't belong there. Why is that item displaying in that collection?
Step 6: selected the "Research Log" and "To Do" collections and everything looks normal
Step 7: selected the "Docs 028–029" collection again and the strange item is no longer displayed. The 1850 census that's supposed to be there is displayed correctly.
Step 8: removed the 1850 census item from the "To Do" collection it worked as it should.
This is so strange!
I'll try disabling the anti-virus and work offline with Zotero to see what happens.
Opened Zotero, created a new collection, moved the "land record" item in the new collection, selected the new collection and the land record item was there along with an incorrect "1815 marriage" item. Selected the "To Do" collection and three duplicate, 1815 marriage, items were displayed and there should've only been one. Selected another collection and went back to the "To Do" collection and the three 1815 marriages items were still there.
Closed Firefox.
After re-enabling the anti-virus and typing this, I opened the Zotero pane and the "To Do" collection only displays one "1815 marriage" item.
I have two other computers at home I can update to the current Firefox and Zotero and see what happens. They both use Windows XP. I'll let you know what happens. I'll be very busy this weekend, with non-work related things, so I won't be able to do this until next week.
OK, let us know. And don't worry about providing any more steps to reproduce—there's clearly something wrong with your system, and it's not a general problem from taking any particular steps.
I'm reposting as you asked, after reading this thread over. Past Greg, I don't recognize this as my problem (below)--perhaps why I didn't find it during a forum search. I've only ever noticed confusion with sub-items, not things popping up in the wrong places like with Andrew's. Steve M's problem sounds very different to mine. I have a Mac and a PC (running XP SP3), and I've only had the issue on my Mac. Both are updated to the latest versions of Firefox and Zotero. Maybe it started with FF 4.x?
I have a recurring problem with Zotero displaying incorrect sub-items when I expand an entry. Sometimes, I see other top-level items listed as sub-items, and these can have still others nested under them. If I collapse and re-expand something, a totally different item can appear. There is no consistent trigger or pattern to it that I can see, and the only way I know to fix it is to restart Firefox. It does not appear to have actually corrupted any data, since I know better than to keep working when it starts up, but it is very confusing (edit: through my inputting data in the wrong place by accident, not anything it does).
I never get an error message, but I have submitted a report: ID 2049415951.
The only unusual thing I can remember doing myself relates to tabs. Could low application memory due to the number of tabs open have anything to do with it? I've had an excessive number on my Mac lately, and restore the session when I restart.
I also started experiencing this problem some time ago (Ubuntu 11.04, Firefox 5.0, Zotero 2.1.8). I agree it could be related to the upgrade to Firefox 4 or the tab mode, I only started experiencing it after the upgrade and I only recently started using the tab mode. I am also wondering if it is in some way related to the size of the library. It began appearing when my library became larger (>200 items).
It might be a display-only issue, but it's still very dangerous IMHO, as you never know which reference you're actually working on, or what you're deleting. You could potentially mess up your whole library without even realising.
Has there been any progress regarding this bug? Are there any further tests I can run to provide more information? Is this known to happen in Zotero standalone?
Upgrade Storage
I have no idea what a "hidden recursiveCollections" is. But, I minimize the Zotero "pane" until I need it, then when it's opened it only takes about the lower 30% of the screen. If I need a larger Zotero pane, I don't toggle, I just increase the size manually and then reduce it back to the 30%.
I hope the others who are experiencing "display errors" will contribute because it'd be nice to get this problem diagnosed and fixed.
I don't know if this helps, but one time, and it's only happened once, but about two months ago I was moving folders around on my hard drive using Windows Explorer. I had moved a folder to another folder, but it still displayed in the previous location. I thought, "wow" this is acting like Zotero. I closed WE and re-opened it. The folder was now in it's new location and didn't display in the old location. I have used WE many times since then and it's never happened again. I figured the Zotero problems were related to a problem with my system until I read this thread today. How could other users, with MAC and Windows be experiencing Zotero "display" issues? Perhaps all of our computers are infected with the same virus? Or could it have something to do with RAM not working right?
I'll try creating a new Firefox profile as you suggested, but I won't be able to attempt it until about 7:30 pm, MDT.
Thanks,
Steve
Created a new Firefox profile. Didn't help.
Step 1: I had just moved an item from Alva Hendee's "To Do" collection to it's permanent "Docs 014–018" and "Research Log" collections. I went back to the "To Do" collection to remove it and two listings displayed for that item. I didn't know which one to remove? Which one of the two is the "ghost" item? Should I have tried to remove both listings? So, I got the report ID and minimized the Zotero pane.
Step 2: after typing Step 1 of this email I opened the Zotero pane. I selected the "Docs 014–018" and "Research Log" collections and it displayed correctly. I then selected the "To Do" collection and only one listing displayed for that item. I minimized the pane, while I typed this.
Step 3: I opened the Zotero pane, removed the item from the "To Do" collection, and it appeared to be gone. Selected the "Docs 014–018" and "Research Log" collections and again verified the item displayed correctly. I then selected the "To Do" collection and sure enough the item was still gone. At least this time I didn't have to restart Firefox to make it disappear from the "To Do" collection.
Here's the error report ID after completing the above steps: ID 1670430267
Sorry about all this,
Steve
Step 1: disabled the auto sync and restarted Firefox.
Step 2: added a new item. Copied it from "To Do" to "Research Log" and "Docs 024–027" and went back to "To Do" and now there's two items displayed for that new item.
Step 3: Minimized the Zotero pane so I could type this.
Step 4: opened the Zotero pane and it still displays two items for the new item.
Step 5: selected the "Research Log" and "Docs 024–027" collections, they display the item correctly.
Step 5: selected "To Do" and now it displays only one item for the new item.
Step 6: removed the item from "To Do" and it removed without a problem.
Step 7: selected "Docs 024–027", "Research Log" and finally "To Do" and the collections all display correctly.
Theory: Seems to be some sort of time lag going on. I wonder if my anti-virus software is causing this? Lately, I'm getting the impression that every MS Word or MS Excel, etc. document I open there's a short lag before the program opens the document. Also, when I attach a document to an email or try to open an email attachment there's a short lag, as if the anti-virus is scanning it.
As I create a new "item" and add it to a new "collection" could the anti-virus program be trying to scan it before its placed in a folder. Then, when it's finished scanning and I switch between collections the duplicate or "ghost" item goes away because the anti-virus has allowed it to be deposited into some folder? Thoughts from a person who knows very little about operating systems.
This theory doesn't explain how sometimes when I open a collection there are many items displayed that have nothing to do with that collection.
At the end of typing all this I decided to add an error report ID 1704153445
Steve
Even though I couldn't reproduce it with your database, you might as well try the repaired database from the DB Repair Tool, just in case there's some sort of strange issue with your database.
If that doesn't help, I think I'd have to suggest trying on another computer if possible. If you have access to a flash drive or external hard drive, it'd be good to just transfer your data directory just so that you're using the exact same database, but if you transferred via syncing that could still be instructive.
Step 1: copied an item, 1850 census, from the Library and added it to the "To Do" collection.
Step 2: examined the 1850 census on Ancestry.com for the person I'm researching and found him. Printed the results and assigned the documents "Docs 028–029".
Step 3: created a new collection "Docs 028–029".
Step 4: copied the item from the "To Do" collection into the "Docs 028–029" and "Research Log" collections.
Step 5: selected the "Docs 028–029" collection and not only was the 1850 census item in there as it should be, but there was a strange item, some county history item, that doesn't belong there. Why is that item displaying in that collection?
Step 6: selected the "Research Log" and "To Do" collections and everything looks normal
Step 7: selected the "Docs 028–029" collection again and the strange item is no longer displayed. The 1850 census that's supposed to be there is displayed correctly.
Step 8: removed the 1850 census item from the "To Do" collection it worked as it should.
This is so strange!
I'll try disabling the anti-virus and work offline with Zotero to see what happens.
Steve
Opened Zotero, created a new collection, moved the "land record" item in the new collection, selected the new collection and the land record item was there along with an incorrect "1815 marriage" item. Selected the "To Do" collection and three duplicate, 1815 marriage, items were displayed and there should've only been one. Selected another collection and went back to the "To Do" collection and the three 1815 marriages items were still there.
Closed Firefox.
After re-enabling the anti-virus and typing this, I opened the Zotero pane and the "To Do" collection only displays one "1815 marriage" item.
I have two other computers at home I can update to the current Firefox and Zotero and see what happens. They both use Windows XP. I'll let you know what happens. I'll be very busy this weekend, with non-work related things, so I won't be able to do this until next week.
Thanks,
Steve
I'll try to make some time this week to try it on an XP computer.
I'm reposting as you asked, after reading this thread over. Past Greg, I don't recognize this as my problem (below)--perhaps why I didn't find it during a forum search. I've only ever noticed confusion with sub-items, not things popping up in the wrong places like with Andrew's. Steve M's problem sounds very different to mine. I have a Mac and a PC (running XP SP3), and I've only had the issue on my Mac. Both are updated to the latest versions of Firefox and Zotero. Maybe it started with FF 4.x?
I have a recurring problem with Zotero displaying incorrect sub-items when I expand an entry. Sometimes, I see other top-level items listed as sub-items, and these can have still others nested under them. If I collapse and re-expand something, a totally different item can appear. There is no consistent trigger or pattern to it that I can see, and the only way I know to fix it is to restart Firefox. It does not appear to have actually corrupted any data, since I know better than to keep working when it starts up, but it is very confusing (edit: through my inputting data in the wrong place by accident, not anything it does).
I never get an error message, but I have submitted a report: ID 2049415951.
Thank you!
It might be a display-only issue, but it's still very dangerous IMHO, as you never know which reference you're actually working on, or what you're deleting. You could potentially mess up your whole library without even realising.
Has there been any progress regarding this bug? Are there any further tests I can run to provide more information? Is this known to happen in Zotero standalone?