Troubleshooting Zotero
This guide is a basic introduction to Zotero and is not intended to address all of Zotero's features and functionalities. For additional information, check out the Zotero Documentation and FAQs available on Zotero's website. You can also email the author of this guide, Savannah Kelly (slkelly@olemiss.edu) at the University of Mississippi Libraries.
However, here are two common issues that can arise when using Zotero.
Issue #1: Zotero is only grabbing the metadata and not the .pdf of the article even though the .pdf is available.
There are a number of different instances where Zotero has a hard time grabbing a .pdf. This sometimes happens when users are downloading content from JSTOR and haven't yet accepted JSTOR's terms and conditions. After accepting the terms, Zotero is usually able to grab the .pdf.
Zotero also has a hard time grabbing .pdfs when it is looking at a group of items (note the folder icon) rather than a single item. If you can, try grabbing each item individually and that often resolves the issue. Other times the best workaround is simply to download the .pdf to your desktop and then upload the file directly into your Zotero library.
Issue #2: Zotero is not syncing and says to check my Internet connection, but my Internet connection is fine.
This can be very frustrating. If your Internet connection is working, then look at the proxy settings on your computer. In the example below, un-clicking the SOCKS proxy will resolve the issue and Zotero will be able to sync again.
