Moving from odt Libre Office to docx Microsoft Word not working

MaxPetras
Hey everyone,

I have been trying to follow these procedures - https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/moving_documents_between_word_processors ("LibreOffice to Word"). And Step 4 (Clicking refresh inside Microsoft Word) ist not working :/

Citations in word are displayed as "ITEM CSL CITATION {...}", but after approving the dialog for conversion they stay unchanged. Afterwords they are handled as plain text, not recognized as citations anymore.

Windows 11
Microsoft® Word für Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2311 Build 16.0.17029.20028) 64 Bit

Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS
Libre Office 7.3.7.2 / LibreOffice Community

Help needed as I am trying to cooperate with a colleague (word focused) as much as I like working on Linux/Libre Office.

Thanks a lot in advance!

Max
  • dstillman
    Make sure you're saving the file in the correct format — as a .docx.

    Have you tested with a new, empty LO document with a single citation?
  • MaxPetras
    Yes, thank you, I did that. Problem continues.
  • dstillman
    You didn't answer my question.
  • Davidmorton7
    I'm having the same problem. I'm trying to switch from LO to Word and then back again (reasons). I have a whole book written in LO with literally thousands of citations. Every time I convert to Word, the result is citations in some "csl" format. Here's the whole process I used to troubleshoot: I created a new doc in LO then added a single bookmark to emulate the LO files that I want to use in Word. I am prompted to chose a citation style, choose endnotes or footnotes, and choose whether to store the citations as reference marks (the only available choice) or bookmarks (grayed out). Then I saved the file as a .docx with a new file name (I tied using both the 'save as' drop down and then just by typing in the extension). At that point I get the warning that odf content may be lost - I select ' Use word 2010-365 document format' anyway. That throws me the zotero warning about the document having reference marks and that the resulting file with have unlinked references unless I save it as odf. That seems like a problem, but I click Ok. Then I click on doc preferences and click switch to a different word processor. I get a warning about making a backup (why? I am using a copy) and a message about the transfer process. At that point I have a document with a new message at the top of the page and a Document Preferences code. I click file-> and again get a warning about the document containing Zotero reference marks, telling me to save as ODF. I click OK. I have to close the file to follow the next step-opening it in Word. I open it in Word, click refresh in the plugin menu, confirm I want to restore citations. Boom. I see the single footnote but it begins "ITEM CSL CITATION {". . . . with what looks like an array containing my citation info. It looks all wrong but whatever. I edit my text, save with .odt extenstion, switch word processors, save again, close. Opening the new odt doc in LO, I see the transfer message. I click refresh in the zotero menu and boom. The message is gone, as is the citation. Here's what I'm using:
    LO build https://git.libreoffice.org/core/+log/51a6219feb6075d9a4c46691dcfe0cd9c4fff3c2
    Microsoft® Word for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2406 Build 16.0.17726.20078) 64-bit
  • Davidmorton7
    I think I figured this out. When going from LO to Word, after you save your LO as a Word file, click on file preferences and check the area that says "Store Citations as:" Even though the ReferenceMarks option says ReferenceMarks can't be shared with Word, you can leave it checked or select it, either way it seems to work. Just make sure that "Bookmarks" is a clickable option and not grayed out. If it's not selectable, try choosing a different citation style. In may case, I was using a citation style that did not allow me to store citations as bookmarks. I switched to a different citation style and then the instructions that Zotero provides worked. I would add that I have Zotero desktop, Word and LibreOffice all installed on the same machine, and that they do not work well together. Lots of crashes when I'm doing these conversions.
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