Field codes instead of references

d.pichonnaz

Hi there,
I was about to finalize an article (in French), which I have been working on for months, and now Zotero codes appear instead of "normal" references. It is strange because I've modified the document a lot, have had it read and corrected by others (using "track changes"), and there has never been any problem.
I have tried all the suggested actions on your website but nothing works.
I use a Zotero style that puts references in footnotes.
I have updated Zotero to the last version and re-installed the Word plug-in.
I use Word, version 2502 Build 16.0.18526.20168) 64 bits and Windows 10 Education N, version 10.0.19045 Build 19045.
There are a lot (a lot!) of citations that I would need to re-enter if I wanted to correct the error manually. Please help me!

d.pichonnaz

PS: Report ID = 1426768213

damnation

But can you not toggle the field codes?
https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/word_field_codes

d.pichonnaz

No, that's the problem, “Field codes instead of values” is unchecked in Word. And half the quotation display correctly, only half shows coded instead.

dstillman

Some of the citations in your document became corrupted and flattened as partial field codes — likely either by someone saving the document in the wrong format or by some fluke of Track Changes. (Existing Citations Not Detected covers the general problem, though it's less common for citations to be flattened as field codes, which is why this isn't in the field-code documentation.) I'm afraid you'll need to reinsert those citations or find an earlier revision of the document from before this happened.

d.pichonnaz

Oh that is very bad news indeed!!
Thanks for your answer though.
I need to understand what happened in order to avoid this in the future, it is very inconvenient.

I am a bit upset because:
1) the "flattening" happened after I saved the document on my computer, without changing its format nor transferring it to anybody.
2) "track changes" has not been used on this document for days, it was not used when the flattening happened.

What do you think is the cause? Can it be linked to the fact that I use a style that puts citations in footnotes (and therefore are displayed, for some of them, with footnote text)?

Thank you in anticipation for your help.

dstillman

Can it be linked to the fact that I use a style that puts citations in footnotes (and therefore are displayed, for some of them, with footnote text)?

No, of course not — that's a standard Zotero feature.

We're not aware of anything other than Track Changes that could cause this kind of thing. Zotero itself wouldn't cause this — Zotero just inserts standard Word fields, the same as you'd get with a live date field or similar, and isn't involved when you're just editing the document without actively using the plugin.

d.pichonnaz

Thank you for your quick reply.
As said, I was not using Track Changes. There was just a remaining comment, but that's it. Can it be linked to the fact that we've use Track Changes in the past on the document?

dstillman

There could have been unresolved changes by someone else that you accepted or something like that. Or it could be some Word bug. It's not any sort of common problem.

I'm afraid there's just really not much we can say here. If you have backups of the file as you were working on it, you might be able to figure out what operation caused it.

d.pichonnaz

I have a previous version, very similar than the corrupted one, but with all citations correct. Would it help to identify the problem if I send it to you?

dstillman

Probably not, but you can send it and we can see if there's anything obvious.

d.pichonnaz

Thank you very much! How do I proceed?

dstillman

Same as you did before — you can email it to support@zotero.org.

dstillman

@d.pichonnaz: No obvious problems in that file. I can refresh, convert all citations to another citation style and back, etc. No tracked changes.