Zotero 7 Beta - Can't import citations into Obsidian or Google Docs

Mowgoli

When trying to import anything from Zotero to Obsidian or Google Docs, it simply doesn't work anymore. I can click something on the Quick Format Citation window but then it just disapears and looks like this on the start bar:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u6409045/ey78kzk75du1ths0ak1w.png
I've tried reinstalling everything but that didn't help. Everything was working fine a few days ago.

dstillman

Start by disabling your plugins (Help → "Restart in Troubleshooting Mode…”), and then test in Google Docs. We don't have anything to do with Obsidian, so you're using a plugin for that.

Mowgoli

Yes the issue persists with all my Zotero plugins turned off. The behavior is the same in both Google docs and Obsidian so I figure it's not an issue with Obsidian integration.

dstillman

Can you provide a Debug ID for reproducing this with all plugins disabled?

Mowgoli

This is from trying to cite in Google Docs: D1089810954

dstillman

(3)(+0000000): Integration: http-addEditCitation:'1Jic_ai6awfZ5eu8WszSRGOwiZzDCX3-Kx54QYzwuDCM' complete in 7.5s

That seems to show multiple successful invocations of the citation dialog. Could you clarify what exactly is happening?

But you should try restarting your computer.

Mowgoli

When I try to add a citation in Google docs, it opens this:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u6409045/wcusesuyv9g9xrz301qo.png instead of the selector. If I close that window i get a progress bar that seems to scroll indefinitely. In some cases, the selector does let me select a citation, but when i click on it nothing happens in the document.

The behavior is similar when trying to import into Obsidian as well.

I've tried restarted a few times but there's no difference.

dstillman

I mean, that's not Zotero — that's the Windows task bar window thumbnail. It suggests that the citation dialog is somewhere and you're just not seeing it. It might be off-screen, off to the side, behind the main Zotero window, or something else.

If you can't figure it out, you can try deleting xulstore.json in your Zotero profile directory with Zotero closed, which should cause window settings to be reset. You can also try creating a new Zotero profile and seeing if it works there.

Mowgoli

I tried deleting xulstore.json creating a new profile but i'm still getting the same issue. I've realized that the citation dialog seems to be invisible if I don't have anything selected in Zotero and if i do have something selected, it looks like this
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u6409045/zgkgpliezsm729l3kco5.png

but clicking on the citation doesn't do anything.

If I right click on the window thumbnail thing from the previous screenshot it lets me select "move" and I get the ability to move around what I assume is an invisible citation dialog box.

I guess at this point it's likely the problem is something to do with my setup rather than the Zotero software? Is there any chance that the issue is related to using the Zotero 7 beta and if so is there any risk in downgrading after being on 7 for a while?

adomasven

If you right click the Quick Format Citation view from the start menu (the popup that you have been taking screenshots of), and select Move, then use arrow keys, and or mouse to move it, can you get the dialog to move into the view?

Mowgoli

I can select move but then it feels like i'm moving an invisible window. I'm familiar with how this window can sometimes appear behind other windows etc and become hard to find but i'm fairly certain that's not the case here.

adomasven

Are you using any custom window styling with Windows OS, like high contrast, etc? If you disable those, does the issue persist? If you create a new temporary Windows user account can you reproduce the problem there?

Mowgoli

I set the appearance of the OS to the default theme and the issue persists. I created a new user account and I couldn't even get the Quick Format Citation window to open at all on there.

Thanks for all the help from you both so far.

adomasven

Make sure you log out of your usual user (or at least close Zotero there), before testing in a new temporary user.

adomasven

@Mowgoli Have you been able to test this more? We are unable to reproduce and thus fix this issue.

Mowgoli

I think I may have found the cause, it seems to be an issue with having my main monitor at 144hz? If I set it to 60 everything works as intended. I'll test it again shortly, but last night I had everything working normally at 60hz and as soon as in changed it to 144hz it stopped working again.

Mowgoli

Seems like I can't replicate the issue every time (sometimes it works fine at 144hz) but so far it's only ever reoccurred with the refresh rate on 144 and it seems that turning it down to 60 will always fix it.

dstillman

Thanks so much — this was the key to tracking this down!

Could you try the latest beta and see if that fixes the problem for you?

Mowgoli

Glad I could help! I've installed the latest beta and it seems to be working correctly at 144hz so far.

Since it was an intermittent problem I can't guarantee the fix worked, but if I run into the issue again I'll post in this thread. Thanks for a quick patch addressing this.