Word (Mac) crashes when adding Footnote (Report ID: 197542060)

Report ID: 197542060

When I add a Footnote in a Word Doc with Zotero, Word crashes and the Footnote is not added.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Within Word in the Zotero Bar click “Add/Edit Citation” button in the Zotero toolbar.
2. Add any citation.
3. It takes a few moments, then word crashes.


I this this behaviour came up after the most recent word update. I experienced it in the current zotero version and after that tried the beta, where the error report is from, because I thought maybe the error is not persistent there.


I can provide a full Word Error log on requirement.

Microsoft Error Reporting log version: 2.0

Error Signature:
Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS
ExceptionEnumString: 1
Exception Code: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS (0x000000000000003c)
Date/Time: 2023-07-12 09:01:03 +0000
Application Name: Microsoft Word
Application Bundle ID: com.microsoft.Word
Application Signature: MSWD
Application Bitness: x64
Application Version: 16.75.0.23070901
Crashed Module Name: Microsoft Word
Crashed Module Version: 16.75.23070901
Crashed Module Offset: 0x00000000001552c0
Blame Module Name: Microsoft Word
Blame Module Version: 16.75.23070901
UnsymbolicatedChecksum: 3ED6C6551D4FDD99FDDC1E4650C58140
Blame Module Offset: 0x00000000001552c0
StackHash: 207900119896a119_1_main_bw_arm
Application LCID: 1031
Extra app info: Reg=en Loc=0x0407
Build Type: Release
Crashed thread Stack Pointer: 0x_000000016fce2860
Crashed thread: 0
Blocking Thread ID: 0x715fe

(...)

OS Information
Operating System: Mac OS X 13.4.1 (Build 22F82)
CPU: ARM64e, Logical CPU Count: 10
Physical Memory: 32768 MB
Device_model: MacBookPro18,1
Screen: 1728.000000 x 1117.000000, bitsPerPixel = 24, frame = 0.000000, 0.000000, 1728.000000, 1117.000000
CrashedApp_Virtual_Memory_Size_MB: 407323.000000
CrashedApp_Resident_Memory_Size_MB: 815.000000
CrashedApp_Memory_Footprint_MB: 386.000000
ErrorReportingDeviceUUID: 5D8606DE-B5BE-5F72-8B67-C5828CF3F826
ErrorReportingUUID: A994D829-13BC-43DE-BD8F-8B1362A83789
ULS UUID: DC29ABDB-71C6-415E-A3DA-7C29921B803C
CrashedLogSessionId: DC29ABDB-71C6-415E-A3DA-7C29921B803C
TimeFromLaunch: 0 hours, 1 minutes, 40 seconds
CrashedSessionDuration: 100
Total errors on this client: 7

Microsoft Application Information:
Tenant_Id: 750708a0-15f0-45f8-98cc-c461dc03d3d8
Audience: Production
SHSuffixKey_0: _arm
AudienceChannel: CC
AudienceGroup: Production

Thanks for support in advance!

Fabian
  • Could you produce a Debug ID from Zotero for an attempt to cite that crashes Word? You should use Zotero 6 (not Beta).

    Can you create a new macOS user account and see if the crash occurs there?
  • edited July 12, 2023
    @fabmue: Before creating a new macOS account, you might want to try disabling any third-party system utilities you're running, and you should certainly try restarting your computer. You should also disable any other Word add-ins. There's no general problem — that's the current Word version, and we haven't received any other reports of this (and that version is working fine for me).
  • edited July 12, 2023
    Hi, thanks for your replys!

    I made another try with the current version 6 of Zotero and disabeling all other add-ins. No luck. Error report is 845590772. Same with a fresh user account, Error report is 690837922.

    *edit*: Debug Log is D1033311966.

    But I have been able to narrow down the problem: It only occurs within my dissertation-document (A) or the exposé-document (B). A is acutally A copy of the document B and B is some months old. Also it only occury under MacOS under windows everything is fine. This leads to the conclusion that some specifica of this document combined with a recent update of word or zotero causes this problem.

    Any other suggestions? Putting the whole dissertation into a new document and restoring alls the footnotes would actually be more than a nightmare, would take days and obviously would be very error-prone.
  • See the last step on Troubleshooting Errors in Word Processor Documents. It should only take a few minutes to identify the problematic part of the document.
  • Also, that Debug ID shows a successful Add/Edit Citation on Zotero's end. Are you saying that was a crash in Word?
  • I am also having a similar problem. When I add a citation to my document, there is no problem. However, when I add a citation within a footnote of my document, Microsoft Word crashes immediately. (FYI: this is an "old" document I have worked with for several months.) I have tried the troubleshooting steps and have had no success.

    I believe this may be an issue with a recent Word update because I saved my .docx as a .doc, and the problem went away. However, using .doc messes with the formatting of my very long document. I want to stay with my .docx and fix the problem. Do you have recommendations to proceed?

    Thank you very much for any help you can provide.

    Here is a Zotero Debug ID for your reference:
    D293516010

    Here is the Microsoft Word Error Report:
    Microsoft Error Reporting log version: 2.0

    Error Signature:
    Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS
    ExceptionEnumString: 1
    Exception Code: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS (0x000000000000003c)
    Date/Time: 2023-07-19 14:48:04 +0000
    Application Name: Microsoft Word
    Application Bundle ID: com.microsoft.Word
    Application Signature: MSWD
    Application Bitness: x64
    Application Version: 16.75.0.23070901
    Crashed Module Name: Microsoft Word
    Crashed Module Version: 16.75.23070901
    Crashed Module Offset: 0x00000000001552c0
    Blame Module Name: Microsoft Word
    Blame Module Version: 16.75.23070901
    UnsymbolicatedChecksum: 1B10AD096ED82BE536F1F00FF3B08680
    Blame Module Offset: 0x00000000001552c0
    StackHash: 207900119896a119_1_main_bw_arm
    Application LCID: 1033
    Extra app info: Reg=en Loc=0x0409
    Build Type: Release
    Crashed thread Stack Pointer: 0x_000000016ef866f0
    Crashed thread: 0
    Blocking Thread ID: 0x7251

    (...)

    OS Information
    Operating System: Mac OS X 13.4.1 (Build 22F82)
    CPU: ARM64e, Logical CPU Count: 8
    Physical Memory: 32768 MB
    Device_model: MacBookPro18,3
    Screen: 1352.000000 x 878.000000, bitsPerPixel = 24, frame = 0.000000, 0.000000, 1352.000000, 878.000000
    Screen: 1600.000000 x 900.000000, bitsPerPixel = 24, frame = -1600.000000, -22.000000, 1600.000000, 900.000000
    Screen: 1920.000000 x 1080.000000, bitsPerPixel = 24, frame = 1352.000000, -104.000000, 1920.000000, 1080.000000
    CrashedApp_Virtual_Memory_Size_MB: 413648.000000
    CrashedApp_Resident_Memory_Size_MB: 6068.000000
    CrashedApp_Memory_Footprint_MB: 4027.000000
    ErrorReportingDeviceUUID: 06AE23FA-5750-5EB1-8A2D-E8866352E089
    ErrorReportingUUID: 41FCB8EF-1687-498F-B53A-C75FB054777F
    ULS UUID: 83553B6D-4B37-43A8-B735-F03FBD23C239
    CrashedLogSessionId: 83553B6D-4B37-43A8-B735-F03FBD23C239
    TimeFromLaunch: 0 hours, 17 minutes, 30 seconds
    CrashedSessionDuration: 1050
    Total errors on this client: 35

    Microsoft Application Information:
    Tenant_Id: e36ee38f-91b8-4dca-9b13-caa5360c9714
    Audience: Production
    SHSuffixKey_0: _arm
    AudienceChannel: CC
    AudienceGroup: Production
  • @fabmue, @ldennin: Do you have a table of contents in your document?

    We've had a few reports of this, all from Word 16.75, and one suggested that it happened when there was a table of contents in the document. I was able to reproduce that, though only once.

    See my comment there for temporarily reverting to Word 16.74, though you can also try re-upgrading to 16.75 as I did and seeing if the problem goes away.
  • @dstillman, thanks for your timely reply!

    I do have a table of contents in my document; this could be the source of the problem.

    I was able to solve the problem earlier today. I went to Microsoft Word's website hosting previous versions and did indeed download version 16.74 and replace my machine's version 16.75 (I found your suggestion in either the linked thread or another one with the same instructions). I proceeded to turn off auto-updates for now.

    This suggested solution does work for anyone out there looking!
  • @dstillman sorry for not getting back on this matter the past days, I had a deadline to match. Anyway:

    I can confirm that with 16.74 the problem does not occur. With 16.75 – now matter on how way I get to that version (Update package, delete and then update Package or auto updater) the problem in every case reoccurs. So I'll stick with 16.74 for now.

    Also I can confirm that I have a table of contents.

    Thanks for your support.
  • I am having the same issue, any ways to solve it?
  • Yes, see above.
  • @dstillname

    Hi, my Microsoft word was downloaded directly from the MacOS App Store, thus I am unable to revert it.
  • edited July 25, 2023
    @TH.Tan: You'll need to remove the table of contents for now, use a non-footnote style, or install 16.74 from Microsoft.
  • @dstillman

    Thank you so much for your patience.
  • @fabmue, @ldennin, @CyberstormXo, and others experiencing this:

    Can you reproduce this crash more than once with the simple case — just creating a new document, adding a header, adding a table of contents, and then adding a Zotero footnote? Two of us were able to reproduce this with those steps on 16.75, but only one time, and we haven't be able to get it to crash since.

    If you're seeing the same, but it still crashes with some existing document of yours, we'd want to see a sample excerpt that actually does reproduce this reliably. You can send that to support@zotero.org with a link to this thread.
  • While we haven't been able to reproduce this anymore in any version, we received one report that this is fixed in Word 16.76, so if you disabled automatic updates, I'd suggest upgrading to that.
  • Hi! I can verify that with 16.76 the issue is fixed. Thanks for the support provided.

    Fot future reference if this issue reoccures: Old versions of Office for Mac can be downloaded here https://learn.microsoft.com/de-de/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac
  • I have Word 16.76 and Zotero 6.0.26, but word still crashes when I try to add a reference on my mac. Anyone else having the problem still?
  • 我也用 Word 16.76以及Zotero 6.0.26,每次添加引用时word都会崩溃或者是zotero崩溃,且在打开zotero时会显示与word的连接通道失效,需要我输入电脑密码以恢复通道,但是恢复了之后还是会出现崩溃的现象
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