Word crashes right after starting due to Zotero.dotm

isabella.michel

I am using Word (version 16.66.1) and Zotero (version 6.0.15) on a MacBook Pro (Catalina 10.15.4).

Lately I have the problem that any word document I want to open crashes right after starting word. After trying all kind of things (re-installing word, re-activating Zotero plugin, ... ) I figured out that the zotero.dotm file is the real culprit and that if I remove the file from the Word autostart file Word works normally again.

(this is the path to the file: Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content.localized/Startup.localized )

Of course now the problem is that I can't use Zotero like that, the add-on doesn't appear in Word anymore. Unfortunately I wrote my whole thesis with Zotero and need the program to edit and work on it.

Can anyone help me out here, maybe point me into a direction I haven't tried yet? Did anyone experience a similar problem?
Thanks!!

adomasven

Does it work if you put the Zotero.dotm back in and temporarily move away Word's Normal.dotm (see bottom of the article, find it at /Users/username/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content/Templates )? If not, does it work if you remove Zotero.dotm from your startup folder and open it manually with Word? Do you have any other Word plugins installed?

isabella.michel

I tried both things you suggested. Even if normal.dotm is removed and zotero.dotm is inside the file Word still immediately crashes. And if I open it manually from Word over the Add-ins in the developer mode Word then right away crashes again. Is there any other way? I literally deinstalled and reinstalled everything again but I can't seem to find any way to solve this riddle

adomasven

Can you create a new user account on your mac and see if it crashes there too with Zotero.dotm in the user's Word startup folder?

isabella.michel

Just tried what you suggested, and the same thing happened again in the new account.

dstillman

You didn't say if you have any other Word add-ins installed. If you do, you should temporarily remove them.

If that doesn't help, you should try upgrading macOS, at least to the latest version of Catalina but ideally to Monterey.

If that doesn't help, I would try reinstalling Word.

We haven't received other reports of this, so there's not much else we can suggest.