run time error '5' since Monday on macos ventura with zotero 6.0.27

costas13

Without changing anything in my system i have been getting the following error when trying to use zotero:
Run-Time error '5':
Invalid procedure call or argument

This is the first time i see this. I tried re-downloading the standalone, tried reinstalling the plugin, nothing works. Help !

System specs: zotero 6.0.27, MS Word 16.77.1, mac os ventura 13.5.2

dstillman

Is this an institutional computer? Is there any non-standard security software on the system or policy restrictions on the Word installation?

You can try reinstalling Zotero 6.0.26, reinstalling the Word plugin from the Cite pane of the Zotero settings, and restarting Word. Zotero 6.0.27 changes the mechanism the Word plugin uses to communicate with Zotero for macOS Sonoma compatibility, so some security software or settings might need to be adjusted to allow the new communication method.

costas13

Thanks for the feedback , it is appreciated. This is indeed an institutional computer but was working fine until last week (and has been fine with word-zotero integration since the beginning)...

Any idea which restrictions would need to change to make things work again? Trying to understand what "some security software or settings might need to be adjusted to allow the new communication method" entails and give feedback to the IT department..

dstillman

Well, you should try what I say first and confirm that the 6.0.26 plugin still works.

If it is 6.0.27 specifically, the 6.0.27 plugin uses curl to make an HTTP request to the Zotero app at 127.0.0.1:23119, since Sonoma blocks the previous method.

costas13

Went ahead with your suggestion and 6.0.26 seems to work just fine with macOS Sonoma and Word 16.77.1 , good times ! Thanks for suggesting it.

So what is the recommendation? I suspect freezing to 6.0.26 is not a long term solution..

dstillman

Sonoma? Do you mean Ventura? Sonoma is still in beta.

In any case, yes, you’ll need to pass what I said above along to your IT department and ask them if there’s any security software or policy restrictions that would be blocking the curl command. (There was a similar issue with CrowdStrike security software last week, but that resulted in a Word crash.)

dstillman

@costas13: See this comment for a link to a Zotero.dotm to test that should resolve this for pre-Sonoma systems.