Zotero Plugin for Word converts APA references to capitals not sentence case

Lisa_Maureen1

I am editing a book. Authors entered sources in Zotero with some errors and without switching to sentence case. I corrected information page errors and switched to sentence case in Zotero then refreshed the reference list. Zotero updated the reference list but put all titles in regular caps not sentence case.
I tried deleting the reference list and reinserting it from scratch. That did not work. Can you please help me.

adomasven

Make a backup of your document and try to change the citation style to some other one, then back to APA.

adamsmith

Also, test in a fresh document. If it looks right there and switching style doesn't work, the issue is likely that references are disconnected from Zotero

Lisa_Maureen1

Hello, I will try the first steps and get back to you. However, I am not sure what you meand by the references are "disconnected from Zotero". I see all the references in Zotero. When I ask for a refresh in Word to correct for missing information in a reference for example, the refresh occurs and the missing information appears. However, the titles are not in sentence case even though they are in sentence case in Zotero. Could this be a language issue? In French, APA is not applied with sentence case but it is in English?

adamsmith

If the information refreshes otherwise, it's not disconnected from Zotero obviously (just seeing the references in Zotero doesn't mean they're connected to the ones in Word, though).
The APA style leaves titles exactly as they are in Zotero except for capitalizing the first word of the subtitle (after :?!), so language doesn't matter. (It does matter for title casing: items with a language other than English in the language field don't get title cased). Could you also paste an example references as you see it here?

Lisa_Maureen1

Here is a screen shot of the Zotero information page followed by a screenshot of the reference as produced in Word. It is supposed to be APA 7th edition. I corrected the information page in Zotero and refreshed in Word. If I delete the reference list then do add/edit bibliography again, it is producing a new list but with capital letters. It is also keeping references that no longer exist as they were corrected on the info page.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u1152931/zykzd208altpt3rut4v7.png


As produced with Word Plug in
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u1152931/f4eirm9kurqrer026dbp.png

Document prefences in Word ZoteroPlug in:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u1152931/o2nnjnexrntkchwqvr23.png

adamsmith

Have you tested in a fresh document? I find it hard to think of a way how Zotero's APA style could produce the above reference with the data you screenshotted.

Lisa_Maureen1

When I do add/edit bibliography, I see that the citation with the caps is on the right and the corrected citation is on the left screen. It seems that Zotero or the Plug-in are not understanding each other. For example, Beach et al has a title in sentence case on the left but is showing up on the right side with caps and at the bottom with caps. There is this message to revert. If I revert, will it pick up the corrected information page data for all citations in the text? Would that be a solution to get correct APA references with sentence case where required?
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u1152931/8muh09hhbd56woyyemad.png

adamsmith

That's certainly worth trying -- obviously work in a copy of the doc in case anything goes completly awry

Lisa_Maureen1

Hello, That does not work. I think the case above is for manual corrections or editing of the citations.
If I copy and paste the references into another Word document, I get correct APA citations with the correct information as it appears on the info pages.

The problem seems to be the Refresh button is not working correctly. Other weird occurrences: I thought the refresh button was supposed to update the references following corrections in Zotero on information pages. It is not working.

I tried removing an intext citation and then adding it back. That works in text and then creates two references in the reference list with an a and a b when there is only one reference. I think there is a bug in the new Zotero interface with the Word Plugin. Should I reinstall the Word plugin?

Lisa_Maureen1

[Merged from new thread — D.S.]

Here is what Zotero Word Plug in Shows if you do add/edit citation
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u1152931/vfqb5eod3t3318xmx18f.png
Here is the reference as corrected in Zotero
Dufresne, Y., Jeram, S., & Pelletier, A. (2014). The true North strong and free heath care ? Nationalism and attitudes towards private heath care options in Canada. Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue Canadienne de Science Politique, 47(3), 569‑595.

Why is the Word Plug in not picking up the corrected citation from Zotero? How can I fix this issue quickly?

bwiernik

[Merged from new thread — D.S.]

At the bottom of the popup, do you see a button to Open in My Library (or the Group the item is in)?

If not, then this citation isn't connected to your library (that usually happens if a co-author added the citation from their My Library or if you deleted the item from your library). In that case, delete the citation and re-insert it from your library.

dstillman

[Written before I saw the two preceding posts in a separate thread, but same answer]

Other weird occurrences: I thought the refresh button was supposed to update the references following corrections in Zotero on information pages. It is not working.

But you said above it did? If Refresh isn't updating a citation you edited in Zotero, but replacing it works and adds a new bibliography entry, it just sounds like that citation isn't linked to your library. See "Deleted Items" here for how to check:

https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/given_name_disambiguation

You can also send the document or a document excerpt to support@zotero.org with a link to this thread, and a description of which exact citations you're referring to.

dstillman

@Lisa_Maureen1: Please don't create new threads for the same issue. Multiple people are in the middle of trying to help you — opening a new thread is disrespectful and just makes it harder for us to help you. I've merged your posts back into this thread. Please continue here.