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Why is my sync icon spinning constantly?
Short answer: Wait. Do not restart Firefox or try to clear or reset anything, which will likely simply cause you to wait longer.
Long answer: When Zotero syncs with the server, requests go into a queue on the server. The time it takes for your request to be processed depends on the size of the request (i.e., how much data you're trying to upload or download) and the number of users currently syncing. Sync times may range from a few seconds to, for large/initial syncs at the busiest times, a couple hours. The majority of requests are completed within seconds.
You can see the current status by hovering over the sync icon. For queued downloads, the tooltip will say “Getting updated data from sync server”, while queued uploads will say “Upload accepted — waiting for sync server”. These messages mean exactly what they say and do not indicate problems. If a sync has already gone through, the tooltip will also display the last sync time.
If “Sync automatically” is enabled in the Sync pane of the Zotero preferences—which is the default and recommended setting—and you're working in Zotero, Zotero may appear to sync constantly when in fact multiple successful syncs are going through. The “Last sync” time displayed in the tooltip will give you an indication of when this is the case. You can also always see what data has synced to the server by viewing your online library on zotero.org
We're working to improve sync times, but in the meantime the best “fix” is to simply be patient and allow syncs to finish.
No, really. It's not syncing. What should I do?
If you've been waiting for a sync to complete for over three hours and no “Last sync” time is displayed in the sync toolbar, restart Firefox completely and try again. (On Windows it may be necessary to check for firefox.exe processes in Task Manager or to restart your computer.) If you then see no change for another couple hours, start a new thread in the forums and an administrator will check your account.
Note that this should be very rare, and for the vast majority of users the solution is simply to wait for the sync to complete.