How to Use Zotero

It is recommended to frequently save a copy of your Zotero data, even if you sync your data with the Zotero servers. The following backup method ensures that the greatest amount of your Zotero data is preserved. To learn more, read https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data#backing_up_your_zotero_data.

Backing up your Zotero data

1. From Zotero, click “Edit” from the menu bar and select “Preferences” (on a Mac, click “Zotero” and select “Preferences”)
2. Click the “Advanced” tab
3. Click the “Files and folders” sub-tab
4. Under Data Directory Location, click “Show Data Directory”
5. The folder on your computer with your Zotero data will open
6. Close Zotero
7. Select all files and folders in your Zotero data folder (including and especially the file named “zotero.sqlite” and folder named “storage”)
8. Copy all files and folders from your Zotero data folder to another storage device to create your back up

Restoring your Zotero data

1. From Zotero, click “Edit” from the menu bar and select “Preferences” (on a Mac, click “Zotero” and select “Preferences”)
2. Click the “Advanced” tab
3. Click the “Files and folders” sub-tab
4. Under Data Directory Location, click “Show Data Directory”
5. The folder on your computer with your the Zotero data you are about to replace will open
6. Close Zotero
7. In the folder with your old Zotero data, press Alt + up arrow in Windows (Command + up arrow on Mac) to go up one folder in your folder structure (for example, from C:\Users\uOttawa\Zotero\ to C:\Users\uOttawa\)
8. Rename the “Zotero” folder to “Zotero Old”
9. Create a new folder named “Zotero”
10. Open your Zotero data back up in a separate window
11. Copy and paste all files and folders from your Zotero data back up to the new “Zotero” folder
12. Open Zotero

Complete Instruction

Task for learning: Successfully back up your Zotero data.

Review question:

All Review Questions

If you have questions, or if you run into problems that the course does not address, e-mail the University of Ottawa Library at bibliolibrary@uOttawa.ca.

This online course is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Unless otherwise stated, it is attributed to Mish Boutet, and is based on handouts by Patrick Labelle (also under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

[How to Use Zotero online course updated: November 8, 2022]