Blank window appears when opening Zotero

nicoledsmith
edited October 8, 2022
I am unable to see any information in Zotero. I have quit the program and re-started, but this appears when I open the program: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1759AWzycjf3V5zXwg1cj7LtM5CjDyeBnVc8xYx0udWk/edit?usp=sharing. Any recommendations?

Zotero error report ID 1115507159
  • dstillman
    What exact macOS version? Have you used Zotero previously on this computer? What happened between the last time you did and now?

    And that screenshot is a bit unclear. Can you unzoom the window? What's listed in the Window menu?
  • nicoledsmith
    I'm using macOS Monterey version 12.6. I've used Zotero on this computer since late 2021. I have no idea what would have happened since the last time I used Zotero to cause this, but I used it very regularly until about 2 weeks.

    I'm not sure what you mean by 'unzoom'. Also, I've added a second image to the Google Doc. Is this what you're asking for in the Window menu? https://docs.google.com/document/d/1759AWzycjf3V5zXwg1cj7LtM5CjDyeBnVc8xYx0udWk/edit?usp=sharing

    Thank you!
  • dstillman
    OK, that's better — you had it in full-screen mode previously.

    Does this still happen if you restart your computer?

    If so, does it happen if you install Zotero 6.0.13?
  • nicoledsmith
    Thank you for your note. Yes, it happened even though I restarted. However, I just installed 6.0.13, so I will restart again after I am done hosting this Zoom to see if that worked. Thanks for the guidance!
  • dstillman
    Is it happening with 6.0.13?
  • nicoledsmith
    That did the trick! Thank you so much!
  • dstillman
    Well, no, that wasn't a fix — it's just debugging. If there's a problem with 6.0.15, we need to fix it, since you can't just stay on 6.0.13 forever, and others might be affected as well.

    If you upgrade to 6.0.15, does the problem return?
  • quarkov
    @dstillman, I'm running version 6.0.26 with MacOS Ventura 13.5.1, and this issue is happening to me. It seems it's just not rendering the stuff on the screen. If I click on where something in my library would be, I can interact with it.
  • dstillman
    @quarkov: Are you using Dark Mode on your computer? Have you previously run any sort of third-party utility that affects Dark Mode?

    Try closing Zotero, opening Terminal (via Spotlight), pasting in this command, and pressing Return:

    defaults delete -g NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance
  • quarkov
    I do run Dark Mode (and Zotero seems to stay in Light Mode). I ran the command but got the message indicating that essentially there was no NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance key in the global preferences domain.

    But I just figured it out...I'm running DisplayLink Manager 1.9.0 to connect to a couple of external monitors. When I disconnected from that and reopened Zotero on just my MacBook, it was back to normal.

    I've just been playing around with it a bit now. When the Zotero window is in one of the linked displays, it receives all the onclick events, but it just looks as if it's frozen. In other words, it's just not displaying the changes. It's not the whole window, either.

    If I click on the New Note button/dropdown, that will display properly. However, if I click within the references window, or the collections tree, it's *visually* unresponsive.

    If I open the settings, that then displays as a grey window in the linked display.

    If I then drag it down to the MacBook display, it remains grey.

    If I close it, however, and reopen the preferences in the MacBook display, it displays fine.

    The original issue happened when I was in a DisplayLinked display and when I tried to add a subcollection. It then greyed out everything, and every time I quit the application and reopened it was grey.

    Whatever the case, it has something to do with the DisplayLink situation. I don't know if it's a general connected displays issue or just something about DisplayLink.

    If you give me a place to send a video, I can try to recreate the issue while doing a screen capture.
  • dstillman
    DisplayLink causes lots of problems, and that's not something we can debug or fix. You might have better luck with Zotero 7, currently in beta, but I'm afraid that's all I can tell you.
  • quarkov
    It's no worries at all. I can just keep the Zotero window in my laptop's display. Thanks for helping me debug it!
  • leannemayapis
    I am having exactly the same issue, but 'fixed' using quarkov's work around. looking forward to Zotero 7. Thanks!
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