Word document disappears every time I add Zotero citation

ashley.poole

Hi there,
I really need help. I have read through all troubleshooting and discussion forums with no success. Everytime I try to add a citation in Word, the document just disappears. I have downloaded the newest version of Zotero 6.0.27 for Mac. I have Microsoft Word version for Mac, version 16.73. Please help!

dstillman

I'm not sure what you mean by that. Do you just mean that the Zotero app is coming to the front when you click Add/Edit Citation? That wouldn't be the document "disappearing" — the Word window would just be behind the Zotero window. If you choose a citation and press Return, Word will be raised to the front again, but it's there the whole time.

If you mean something else, I think we'd have to see a screen recording. You can upload that somewhere and provide a link here or in an email to support@zotero.org with a link to this thread. (We'll respond here either way.)

ashley.poole

I mean that Word completely closes and crashes. It does not just go behind the Zotero app. I have used Zotero lots of time before and never had this issue. I have tried ALL the troubleshooting tips to the point where I am retrying the tips again. I will take a video and send to you so you can see.

ashley.poole

Just sent a video to support@zotero.org

dstillman

What macOS version?

What citation style is this? If you're trying to use a footnote style, does it help if you change to an in-text style (e.g., APA), assuming you can open the Document Preferences window? Or have you not cited in this document yet, such that it would normally be opening the Document Preferences window?

Does this happen in any document, or just that one?

ashley.poole

MacOS version is Ventura 13.5.1

Citation style attempted was American Medical Association 11th edition. There are no citations in this document yet as this occurred when trying to add my first citation. I can open the preferences window from the Zotero app, but I cannot open it from the Zotero plug-in in word. When I try to open document preferences in Word, the same thing happens....Word crashes and disappears. In fact, Word crashes with every Zotero option: "add/edit citation", "add/edit bibliography", "add note", "refresh," "document preferences", etc etc. And to your last question, it happens in every document, not just the one.

dstillman

First thing to try would be updating Word — you're a few versions behind the current version.

ashley.poole

I updated it earlier today, but I will try again and get back to you.

dstillman

If you have 16.76 and that's crashing as well, you should try temporarily removing the EndNote plugin from Word as well as any other add-ins (all in Templates and Add-ins) and restarting Word.

If it's still crashing with just the Zotero plugin installed, open the Console app via Spotlight, look for a recent Word crash, and post the first 100 or so lines here. But generally a Word crash is a Word problem, and we haven't received any other reports of this, so this would be some sort of problem in your Word installation.

ashley.poole

-------------------------------------
Translated Report (Full Report Below)
-------------------------------------

Process: zotero [2628]
Path: /Applications/Zotero 3.app/Contents/MacOS/zotero
Identifier: org.zotero.zotero
Version: 5.0.74 ()
Code Type: X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [1]
User ID: 1934732908

Date/Time: 2023-09-05 19:22:18.5353 -0400
OS Version: macOS 13.5.1 (22G90)
Report Version: 12
Bridge OS Version: 7.6 (20P6072)
Anonymous UUID: FFB4A754-A58A-BB3C-9F9A-2670A3058D61


Time Awake Since Boot: 950 seconds

System Integrity Protection: enabled

Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x0000000000000010
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000010

Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 11 Segmentation fault: 11
Terminating Process: exc handler [2628]

VM Region Info: 0x10 is not in any region. Bytes before following region: 140737486827504
REGION TYPE START - END [ VSIZE] PRT/MAX SHRMOD REGION DETAIL
UNUSED SPACE AT START
--->
shared memory 7fffffe8b000-7fffffe8c000 [ 4K] r-x/r-x SM=SHM

Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0 XUL 0x10a4770f3 0x109888000 + 12513523
1 AppKit 0x7ff81b3bd8c5 -[NSView _updateLayerBackedness] + 405
2 AppKit 0x7ff81bccb035 -[NSView _buildLayerTreeWithOwnLayerRequirement:someAncestorWantsLayer:singleLayerOut:layerArrayOut:] + 1951
3 AppKit 0x7ff81bccacd3 -[NSView _buildLayerTreeWithOwnLayerRequirement:someAncestorWantsLayer:singleLayerOut:layerArrayOut:] + 1085
4 AppKit 0x7ff81bccacd3 -[NSView _buildLayerTreeWithOwnLayerRequirement:someAncestorWantsLayer:singleLayerOut:layerArrayOut:] + 1085
5 AppKit 0x7ff81bcca84e -[NSView _buildLayerTree] + 541
6 AppKit 0x7ff81b466555 NSViewBuildLayerTreeForDisplay + 32
7 AppKit 0x7ff81bcdd921 NSWindowUpdateLayerTree + 68
8 AppKit 0x7ff81b464bc1 -[NSWindow displayIfNeeded] + 214
9 AppKit 0x7ff81b464a59 __NSWindowGetDisplayCycleObserverForDisplay_block_invoke + 602
10 AppKit 0x7ff81b46381c NSDisplayCycleObserverInvoke + 142
11 AppKit 0x7ff81b46344c NSDisplayCycleFlush + 878
12 QuartzCore 0x7ff81fbb0112 CA::Transaction::run_commit_handlers(CATransactionPhase) + 98
13 QuartzCore 0x7ff81fbaebfa CA::Transaction::commit() + 372
14 AppKit 0x7ff81b500c3f __62+[CATransaction(NSCATransaction) NS_setFlushesWithDisplayLink]_block_invoke + 285
15 AppKit 0x7ff81bd13c8c ___NSRunLoopObserverCreateWithHandler_block_invoke + 41
16 CoreFoundation 0x7ff818307444 __CFRUNLOOP_IS_CALLING_OUT_TO_AN_OBSERVER_CALLBACK_FUNCTION__ + 23
17 CoreFoundation 0x7ff81830736b __CFRunLoopDoObservers + 482
18 CoreFoundation 0x7ff8183068f6 __CFRunLoopRun + 859
19 CoreFoundation 0x7ff818305f31 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 560
20 HIToolbox 0x7ff821d86f3d RunCurrentEventLoopInMode + 292
21 HIToolbox 0x7ff821d86b84 ReceiveNextEventCommon + 199
22 HIToolbox 0x7ff821d86aa8 _BlockUntilNextEventMatchingListInModeWithFilter + 64
23 AppKit 0x7ff81b3a225c _DPSNextEvent + 858
24 AppKit 0x7ff81b3a1106 -[NSApplication(NSEvent) _nextEventMatchingEventMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] + 1214
25 XUL 0x10b679311 0x109888000 + 31396625

Thread 1:
0 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff818227bb0 start_wqthread + 0

Thread 2:
0 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff818227bb0 start_wqthread + 0

Thread 3:
0 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff818227bb0 start_wqthread + 0

Thread 4:: Gecko_IOThread
0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x7ff8181f21fe kevent + 10
1 XUL 0x109d50c4c 0x109888000 + 5016652

Thread 5:: Socket Thread
0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x7ff8181f6292 __select + 10
1 libnss3.dylib 0x104dc602f 0x104c35000 + 1642543

Thread 6:: JS Watchdog
0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x7ff8181f00fe __psynch_cvwait + 10
1 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff81822c758 _pthread_cond_wait + 1242

Thread 7:: JS Helper
0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x7ff8181f00fe __psynch_cvwait + 10
1 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff81822c758 _pthread_cond_wait + 1242
2 XUL 0x10c785fa1 0x109888000 + 49274785
3 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff818227bd3 thread_start + 15

Thread 8:: JS Helper
0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x7ff8181f00fe __psynch_cvwait + 10
1 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff81822c758 _pthread_cond_wait + 1242
2 XUL 0x10c785fa1 0x109888000 + 49274785
3 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff818227bd3 thread_start + 15

Thread 9:: JS Helper
0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x7ff8181f00fe __psynch_cvwait + 10
1 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff81822c758 _pthread_cond_wait + 1242
2 XUL 0x10c785fa1 0x109888000 + 49274785
3 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff818227bd3 thread_start + 15

Thread 10:: JS Helper
0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x7ff8181f00fe __psynch_cvwait + 10
1 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff81822c758 _pthread_cond_wait + 1242
2 XUL 0x10c785fa1 0x109888000 + 49274785
3 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff818227bd3 thread_start + 15

Thread 11:: JS Helper
0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x7ff8181f00fe __psynch_cvwait + 10
1 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff81822c758 _pthread_cond_wait + 1242
2 XUL 0x10c785fa1 0x109888000 + 49274785
3 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff818227bd3 thread_start + 15

Thread 12:: JS Helper
0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x7ff8181f00fe __psynch_cvwait + 10
1 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff81822c758 _pthread_cond_wait + 1242
2 XUL 0x10c785fa1 0x109888000 + 49274785
3 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff818227bd3 thread_start + 15

Thread 13:: JS Helper
0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x7ff8181f00fe __psynch_cvwait + 10
1 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff81822c758 _pthread_cond_wait + 1242
2 XUL 0x10c785fa1 0x109888000 + 49274785
3 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff818227bd3 thread_start + 15

Thread 14:: JS Helper
0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x7ff8181f00fe __psynch_cvwait + 10
1 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff81822c758 _pthread_cond_wait + 1242
2 XUL 0x10c785fa1 0x109888000 + 49274785
3 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff818227bd3 thread_start + 15

Thread 15:: JS Helper
0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x7ff8181f00fe __psynch_cvwait + 10
1 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff81822c758 _pthread_cond_wait + 1242
2 XUL 0x10c785fa1 0x109888000 + 49274785
3 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff818227bd3 thread_start + 15

ashley.poole

There was not a Microsoft Word crash report, but there were several Zotero crash reports.

dstillman

That's a crash of Zotero 5.0.74, which was released in August 2019 and which you have named as "Zotero 3" in your Applications folder. You should close Zotero, delete all versions of Zotero from Applications, and install the current version from the download page.

ashley.poole

OK. I just did that and the problem is still occurring. Any other thoughts? It is very frustrating not being able to use my group library. Zotero has always worked well for me...not sure what is going on.

ashley.poole

Or any library for that matter. I can't do anything. Same thing I showed you on the video is occurring.

ashley.poole

I even paid for more storage today in case that was the issue.

dstillman

Nothing to do with storage. This doesn't even seem to have much to do with Zotero — it's Word that's closing.

I assume you've tried restarting your computer?

Did you remove all other plugins, including EndNote?

You should also go to your Word Startup folder, delete Zotero.dotm (and any other plugins still in there), and restart Word to make sure Zotero is completely gone from Word. Then close Word and reinstall the Zotero plugin from the Cite → Word Processors pane of the Zotero settings. That will confirm that you're running the current version of the plugin.

ashley.poole

I have restarted my computer multiple times. I removed all plug-ins including Zotero.dotm. When I restarted word, zotero was completely gone. I then closed word and reinstalled Zotero plugin. The issue is still occurring. However, when I went to Cite → Word Processors pane of the Zotero settings. The plugin was gone in the tabs, but the pane still said "The Microsoft word add-in is currently installed" (even though it wasn't installed anymore).

dstillman

If you reinstall Zotero 6.0.26 over your current version, close Word, and reinstall the plugin from the Cite → Word Processors pane of the Zotero settings does that fix it?

dstillman

@ashley.poole: Also, do you by any chance have Crowdstrike AV software on your computer? We received one suggestion that this was caused by that.

dstillman

Seems like this is definitely due to CrowdStrike. Continued here:

https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/442970/#Comment_442970