Inconsistent "Save to Zotero" button functionality - Zotero Connnector for Firefox [solved]

jessestryker

Hi. I'm a research scientist and use Zotero to collect references, including article PDFs. I use the Zotero Connector extension in Firefox, integrated with the Zotero Desktop application for Linux. For a long time now, my Zotero Connector fails to work consistently.

The Save to Zotero toolbar button (with default save action) seems to generally work on open-access articles -- the bibliographic data are properly retrieved and article PDF is downloaded. As examples, the Save to Zotero button works perfectly with articles from arXiv.org and from quantum-journal.org.

The button consistently fails when I want to use it on university-proxied article pages. Similar to another forum post [1], when I click on the Save to Zotero button, the connector opens the 'Saving to My Library' window, but nothing actually happens. Often, I can right-click the button and choose alternate save actions [e.g. Save to Zetro (Embedded Metadata)] and those actions will work, but that is not retrieving all the desired data.

The broken Save to Zotero functionality is not strictly limited to university proxy situations, however. I can find an Amazon book [2] for which the button's default action fails to do anything. This web page was mentioned in the forum post [1].

Please help me get Zotero Connector working properly again so I can restore my old workflow.

--
[1] https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/101492/firefox-connector-not-working-for-amazon/p1
[2] https://www.amazon.com/Clicking-Clients-Marketing-Practice-Therapists/dp/1532844557/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1461641556&sr=8-1&keywords=clicking+with+clients&linkCode=sl1&tag=impyousocski-20&linkId=b8f85baeeb14ac485a14d2b91c965a9a

adamsmith

Amazon import currently has some issues that are specific to amazon.

If you're seeing issues more broadly for proxied pages, we'd need some examples (i.e. URLs) of that.

(more generally, see https://www.zotero.org/support/troubleshooting_translator_issues and make sure you run through all other steps, especially if you're seeing issues across multiple sites)

jessestryker

@adamsmith Sure, here are some examples

[1a] https://journals.aps.org/prc/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevC.106.064310
[1b] https://journals-aps-org.proxy-um.researchport.umd.edu/prc/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevC.106.064310

For [1a], without the proxy, the Save to Zotero button works aside from a failure to download the PDF.
For [1b], with the proxy, clicking the button has no effect in My Library.
--
[2a] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/JHEP12(2012)119
[2b] https://link-springer-com.proxy-um.researchport.umd.edu/article/10.1007/JHEP12(2012)119
[3a] https://www.nature.com/articles/nature18318
[3b] https://www-nature-com.proxy-um.researchport.umd.edu/articles/nature18318

For both [2a] and [3a], without the proxy, the Save to Zotero button is functional but instead of retrieving the published article it downloads the (open-access) submitted version.
For [2b], with the proxy, the Save to Zotero button has no effect, like with [1b].
For [3b], with the proxy, the button is functional but still retrieves the submitted version instead of what should be the final published version.
--
For debug purpose I'll use [1b]:
When I hover over the button, the tooltip reads "Save to Zotero (APS)".
When I click the button, the pop-up says "Saving to My Library".
Debug ID: D891715904

dstillman

The Debug ID has to include reloading the page first, not just clicking the save button (which just reopens the save popup if you've already tried).

For both [2a] and [3a], without the proxy, the Save to Zotero button is functional but instead of retrieving the published article it downloads the (open-access) submitted version.

That's expected. If you don't have access to the PDF, Zotero will search for and download an OA copy.

jessestryker

Ok, here is the Debug ID resulting from a refresh and then clicking the save button.
D1288543495

dstillman

Can you install the Zotero Connector beta, reload the page, and let us know if that fixes this for you?

jessestryker

Using the Zotero Connector beta, I still seem to be getting the same behavior as before. Here is the Debug ID following the same steps as last time:
D1522825833

dstillman

Does this same URL work for you in Chrome?

jessestryker

@dstillman Yes, in Chrome, the button does work properly for this URL. (It also works properly in Chrome for the other two links, [2b] and [3b] above.)

jessestryker

@dstillman @adamsmith What can I do next to troubleshoot what is happening with Firefox specifically? I generally do not use Chrome and am hoping to avoid alternating between browsers for the singular purpose of getting the Zotero connector to work.

adomasven

Sorry for lack of response. We cannot reproduce this issue on our end with the proxy that we are testing. It's hard to say what may be causing this. One cause could be some privacy/security setting in Firefox. It's worth testing whether you still see this in a new Firefox profile that only has Zotero Connector installed.

jessestryker

@adomasven Thank you for the tip! The problem does appear to be with my Firefox account profile.

I found that if I completely removed Firefox and all setting files and then reinstalled Firefox, then Zotero connector worked properly up until I logged into my Firefox sync account. After that, the failed-PDF-download problem returned.

I'm not positive what about my Firefox account is causing the problem, but it may have to do with synced add-ons and some kind of interaction between Zotero connector and the other add-ons.

Now that I've narrowed down the source of the problem, I will mark this thread as solved.

dstillman

Yes, you'd certainly want to try disabling all other browser extensions — that's one of the steps on the troubleshooting page linked above.