Citation in Zotero Not Updating in Word Document [Report ID: 1709655546]

miladmoghaddas
Hello. It should be the case that when a citation is manually updated in the Zotero app or online, it will also update in the reference list and in-text citation of a Word document where it is cited. However, when I refresh Zotero in the Word document, those changes do not get updated.

Specifically, I removed the DOI link in one of my citations in the Zotero app after adding the citation to the Word document. However, the DOI link still remains in the citation in the reference list in my Word document. I have tried hitting "refresh" in the Zotero tab of the Word document several times, but the citation still does not update (i.e., the DOI link is still in the citation in Word). Currently, the only way to implement the change is to delete the in-text citation in Word and re-add it, which is a real pain.

I am using the most up-to-date versions of Zotero (7.0.3) and Word for Mac (Version 16.88). Is there any solution to this? Thank you in advance.
  • adomasven
    Can you reproduce this in a new document? Does it help if you restart Zotero?
  • miladmoghaddas
    Unfortunately, neither approach fixes the problem. The challenge is that the problem exists for ALL citations, not just one specific one. So we end up having to reinsert any citation that gets changed — and many citations often need updates, so this really slows down the process. Is there a more structural solution to the problem?
  • adamsmith
    Sounds like citations have become disconnected. If you click on a citation (not bibliography entry), use Add/Edit Citation, and then click on the grey/blue citation bubble, do you see the option "Open in My Library" (or "Open in [Group Name]") as in this image? If not, you have somehow disconnected the citations from the Zotero library. If you do have the option, try switching to a different citation style and back.

    Also, you really shouldn't be removing DOI information from items just because you don't want it in citations: DOIs serve as the most reliable identifiers of items e.g. for detecting retracted items, duplicates, future functionality to updated metadata, etc. They're also required in a fair number of popular citation styles. It's easy enough to remove DOIs in citation styles if you don't want them in citations.

    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u2433/3kru2epegppiywfncso4.png
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