Latest Zotero not working on macOS Monterey

jlandells

I've been a delighted Zotero user since I started my MA back in September. However, since the most recent update, it's no longer working on my Mac! The app starts and loads the main window, but it's completely blank—just a grey dialog of the size that I'd expect Zotero to be, as if it's unable to load any controls into the page!

I've tried a completely fresh install, but that's made no difference.

Note that this is affecting EVERY dialog within the app, so for example, I asked it to restart with logging enabled and it presented me with a completely blank dialog where I'm obviously supposed to click on a button! I guessed where the button should be and it restarted, so it's most likely just a UI issue.

When I do look at the debug, there's a repeating error around a WebSocket error, followed by 'WebSocket connection closed: 1006'. Are there maybe some new firewall ports that need opening for Zotero to work?

dstillman

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

jlandells

I have not enabled dark mode, nor have I intentionally run anything that would set it, so running that command did nothing. It simply returned:

Domain (kCFPreferencesAnyApplication) not found.
Defaults have not been changed.

dstillman

Have you restarted your computer?

jlandells

Yes. I work in IT, so I've tried all the obvious things ;)

dstillman

OK, well, this wouldn't have anything to do with the Zotero version or with the library data — it's almost certainly just something that changed on the system.

Best I can suggest is trying in a different macOS account, and if that fixes it trying to think of things that might be running or might have changed in the first account. (Just to eliminate variables, you can first try creating a new Zotero profile in the main OS account, but you might not be able to see the Profile Manager dialog — which would also confirm that it's not related to the profile.)

You should also make sure running the latest version of Monterey.

jlandells

Well, it was working perfectly, then I got a notice that there was an update available. I applied the update and it stopped working. Nothing else changed.

dstillman

I mean, you can download 6.0.22, but it's very unlikely you'll see a difference.

jlandells

I just tested 6.0.2.2, but as you suggested, it made no difference.

jlandells

Interestingly, I just re-updated from the menu, and it all came back!

I'll go ahead and assume that you fixed it for me, @dstillman! :)

jlandells

So the issues has returned (Report ID: 1914187585).

No changes on the Mac. Same version of Zotero—it's just blank again as of today!

Note though that after restarting the software several times, it did eventually load correctly, so it seems there's something screwy in the start-up code.

adamsmith

Given that you are the only one reporting to this, it's almost certainly an issue in your setup, not in Zotero. See dstillman 's post above for troubleshooting approaches

jlandells

OK. I'll stop reporting bugs. No worries.

adamsmith

To be clear, you're welcome to report both bugs and issues you're encountering, but a) not everything that causes Zotero not to run properly is a Zotero bug and b) you'd have to actually do follow-up troubleshooting suggested to you in order to isolate any potential bugs.