Help with connecting Zotero to Word

cchaufan

Hi everyone,

This is my first time consulting in this forum so please bear with me!

I am installing Zotero in a new desktop and it won't connect to Word, even if I followed the instructions of reinstalling in Zotero preferences again and again, reinstalled word as well, etc.

The extension simply will not show up when I open a Word document.

Thank you for your help!

DonnaCoxBaker

Perhaps this would help:

https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_troubleshooting#zotero_toolbar_doesn_t_appear

cchaufan

Thank you Donna. I tried a variety of things in the multiple page instructions, to the best of my ability. I find everything very confusing so I do not know if I did things correctly and I cannot really reproduce with words what the Zotero support technicians (who emailed me) want me to explain, as they write, "exactly in my own words". This message is for the technicians who also told me to not email "support" only dedicated to log in or other limited problems.

The only thing I could retrieve from the multiple links I click on and instructions I tried to follow is a file called Zotero.dotm. That said, I do not know what to do with this file or if it would help me fix things, even if I observed, opening the file, that it looks like a simple word file, yet unlike other word files, it includes the Zotero extension.

So this final message is for the support technicians. Dear support technicians, I'm replying here as you instructed via email. I have a paid Zotero account (as probably many people in this forum do) that I have used until now very productivity with my research assistants. Unfortunately if I cannot resolve this problem I will have to move myself and my team back to Endnote. Even II prefer Zotero, Endnote offers very prompt phone support and their technicians are very patient and will stay with you until you resolve the issues. The price is the same. Please advise.

DonnaCoxBaker

I'm not a Zotero developer, @cchaufan, but I hope you can get answers. Meanwhile, if I can help, I am happy to. Zotero is too good and Release 7 is going to be even better. I've been using Zotero for 12 years, and keep finding new benefits. I teach it and write about it, so I am curious to know what is going on with your setup, too.

I do know that the files with the .dotm extensions are the Microsoft Word templates. So that's the file that holds the Zotero add-on. It should look like an empty Word document. If you want to chat or Zoom or email, you can find me at donna.baker@genohistory.com.

Hope all resolves itself soon!

dstillman

@cchaufan: Don't get in your head here. The troubleshooting steps are written for a general audience and are written very precisely, and you're just as capable of following them and explaining exactly what you've done as everyone else who we help here every single day. We can't see your screen, so the only way we can help you is if you tell us what you've actually done from our troubleshooting steps.

So as we said via email, if you'd like to resolve this, see Zotero Toolbar Doesn't Appear, and if you're still having trouble let us know exactly what you tried, in your own words, and what happened at each step.

adamsmith

First to clarify some confusions: Zotero, as opposed to Endnote, is free software. It is free to use (and to copy, modify, etc.). The only thing you pay for is the entirely optional sync and storage of attached files. There are also no "support technicians", see https://www.zotero.org/why#unparalleled-support

As for your questions, it's really most helpful if you describe what exactly you've tried. You say

ven if I followed the instructions of reinstalling in Zotero preferences again and again, reinstalled word as well, etc.

So you've tried re-installing the word processor add-on from the Zotero preferences, re-installed Word (which isn't part of the troubleshooting link, so that wouldn't have been necessary), but we have no way of knowing what "etcetera" means here -- what else have you tried?

The next logical step would be to try to manually install the add-on. The detailed instructions for that are here: https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_manual_installation
They do involve the Zotero.dotm file that you have found and copying it to the Word startup folder. Details are on that page. Follow these and if something isn't clear, ask as precisely as possible and we're happy to help (i.e., we don't know how to answer "I don't understand the instructions" but something like "Under 3 i), I can't find the "Advanced" options in Word" is easy for us to answer).