Spinning wheel of death Masters Thesis

o1nicholls · 2024-04-27T09:15:51+00:00

Hi all,

I am coming to the end of completing my masters thesis. I have done all the chapters independently on their own word documents, all properly referenced no problem.

When I merge them, the zotoro references go onto the document but are completely wrong - no problem. I refresh the citations under the zotoro header and then I get spinning wheel of death for eternity.

Any idea what to do?

Thanks in advance

dstillman · 2024-04-27T10:25:48+00:00

This is macOS?

Most likely you just need to wait longer. Mac Word integration is slow (though we're working with Microsoft to speed it up), and it could easily take hours — even overnight — to finish refreshing a large combined document.

o1nicholls · 2024-04-27T10:36:21+00:00

@dstillman

Yes, macOS.

My chapters are circa 5000 words each with hundreds of sources. I am fine to wait hours, but when I run Apple's version of task manager it says both word and Zotero are not responding.

dstillman · 2024-04-27T10:41:22+00:00

Word freezing would be normal. Zotero generally shouldn't be frozen. But if you see CPU usage, it's likely still going.

If you really think it's stalled, you can force-quit both and open Help → Debug Output Logging → View Output in Zotero to confirm that it's still doing things (though you generally don't want to keep that open, since it may slow things down).

o1nicholls · 2024-04-27T10:49:20+00:00

@dstillman

Currently trying it as we speak, unfortunately the same problem. No possible way to even click the help tab.

Hopefully you can see the attached photos.

Alternatively, is there any way of compiling all my citations using another computer?

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u14179776/cp7869lnsdciwuxvavdc.png

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u14179776/9u0wd5ogzkh8i17ytf7s.png

dstillman · 2024-04-27T10:51:30+00:00

You would want to open the debug window before starting the operation. If it freezes, we'd want to see a screenshot of the last thing it logged.

o1nicholls · 2024-04-27T10:57:57+00:00

@dstillman

Somehow, it seems to have worked just by having the debug window open....

o1nicholls · 2024-04-27T17:56:36+00:00

@dstillman

Just updating the thread to say thank you for both your help and swift responses.

For anyone who has a similar problem to me, for some reason, simply having the debugging tab open whilst merging documents and citations, solves it.

Cheers!

dstillman · 2024-04-28T05:41:06+00:00

That really shouldn't matter. Can you reproduce the problem if you close the debug window?

o1nicholls · 2024-04-28T11:10:02+00:00

Yep, I can.

No idea why it doesn't work when the debug isnt open!

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u14179776/qfqjjeo9ew88aaflxzer.png

dstillman · 2024-04-28T11:13:35+00:00

Can you restart Zotero and provide a Report ID?

When you have the debug output window open, how long does it take to complete?

o1nicholls · 2024-04-28T13:33:20+00:00

Restarting Zotero and clicking on 'report errors' shows that 'No errors have been logged since Zotero started.'

Upon trying your request to time it when the debug output window is open, word & Zotoro have decided to become unresponsive again.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u14179776/xebcsw5sf8gmh7d7is5r.png

adomasven · 2024-04-29T10:53:53+00:00

Do you run any security software? Can you not reproduce this freeze in an empty Word document, or one of your chapter documents?

o1nicholls · 2024-05-01T09:35:21+00:00

No, I do not run any security software.

I cannot reproduce this freeze in an empty word document. It seems to be only when merging 100+ sources at once.

I shouldn't have any cpu bottlenecking either so I don't know whats going on.

adomasven · 2024-05-02T07:02:25+00:00

The freeze in your report occurs in a way that should not depend on the size of the document or the number of citations, which is weird. Still, you'll likely have to run through the Troubleshooting Errors in Word Processor Documents steps.