Zotero 7.0.15 (64-bit) Word Plugin Buttons Do Nothing Despite Proper Installation

kevinjamesosteo

Hi Zotero team,

I'm running into an issue where the Zotero tab appears in Microsoft Word (with no label), but none of the plugin buttons work (Add/Edit Citation, Add/Edit Bibliography, etc.). Clicking them results in no action and no error — just silence.

I’ve already followed all the steps outlined here:
- https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_troubleshooting
- https://www.zotero.org/support/getting_help

✅ My setup:
- Zotero 7 for Windows (latest stable: 7.0.15 (64-bit))
- Microsoft Word for Microsoft 365, Version 2505 Build 16.0.18827.20102 (64-bit)
- Windows 11 (Home), fully updated
- Zotero Word plugin is marked as installed
- Zotero.dotm is correctly placed in %AppData%\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP
- Tab appears in ribbon; .dotm is listed in Templates and Add-ins
- Macros are enabled + “Trust access to the VBA project object model” is checked
- No antivirus blocking Zotero
- Zotero and Word are running as the same user (not admin)
- No -no-remote flags or profiles
- Tried replacing Zotero.dotm manually and restarting everything

❌ Problem:
- Clicking Add/Edit Citation (or any other plugin button) does nothing.
- No error messages, no citation popup, and nothing changes in Word or Zotero.

I’ve attached a screenshot showing Word and Zotero side by side to show that everything looks right visually — but there’s no functionality.

Any suggestions? I’ve gone through every documented fix, and it worked perfectly in Zotero 6 on this same machine.

Thanks in advance!

Images:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u17359052/twmlws35rf1ot302mmio.png

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u17359052/jvexiuboce2rlv3wides.png

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u17359052/gbonm7z03dis41vt5zbs.png

adomasven

The lack of label on the Zotero tab suggests that Zotero macros are not running for some reason. If you open the Zotero.dotm file with Word directly do you get additional warnings/banners/dialogs about macros? Does the Zotero tab get a "Zotero" label?

kevinjamesosteo

Thanks for the reply!

I tried opening `Zotero.dotm` directly from `%AppData%\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP`, and Word just opens a blank new document—no macro warnings, no security banners, and no prompts. The ribbon doesn’t change either—no “Zotero” label or anything new showing up.

Also checked the local endpoints:
* Visiting `http://127.0.0.1:23119/connector/ping` returns a 200 OK with the expected JSON: `"Zotero is running"`.
* But `http://127.0.0.1:23119/word/ping` always returns: `"No endpoint found"`.

So it looks like the `.dotm` file is loading, but the macros aren’t actually executing—probably because the Word integration server in Zotero isn’t starting at all. That fits with what you mentioned about the missing tab label meaning the macros didn’t register.

Is there a way to check if the Zotero macro module is actually being loaded in Word? Also, is there any reliable method to force Zotero to reinitialize the Word integration? (I’ve already tried fully uninstalling and reinstalling both Word and Zotero, but the issue persists.)

For what it’s worth, Zotero 7 works fine on another machine. However, it used to work on this machine too, but now even reverting to Zotero 6 doesn’t fix the Word plugin.

Appreciate any ideas—thanks again!

adomasven

No, this issue has nothing to do with the Zotero app, and Zotero doesn't use the http server on Windows to communicate with Word, it uses COM. The Zotero.dotm file contains Visual Basic code/macros, and the initial macro is responsible for setting the label on the Zotero plugin tab. Since you see a blank label, it means that code didn't run. All to say that for some reason Zotero VBA macros do not run on your installation.

One thing to try is creating a new Windows user account and testing if the Zotero plugin works there. If it does, some specific Word or account configuration on your main account is preventing either all Word macros, or just Zotero macros to run. If it doesn't work in a different account, you should reinstall Microsoft Office.

kevinjamesosteo

Thanks so much for your help. I tested it with a different user on the same local machine, and it worked.

To resolve the issue, I removed the enterprise account from both Windows and the Account settings, then reinstalled Word and Zotero. However, the macro was still being disabled.

I then edited the registry and removed the following entries:

`HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Cloud\Office\16.0\word\security`
*`vbawarnings`
*`blockcontentexecutionfrominternet`

After making those changes, everything worked as expected.

I really appreciate your support!

adomasven

Excellent. How did you figure out that those registry entries might be an issue? Where did they come from?

kevinjamesosteo

As suggested, I first confirmed that the macro worked on a local account, so then I knew the issue was isolated to the enterprise account environment. After removing all Microsoft 365 (enterprise and personal) accounts from Windows and from within Office itself, Word still blocked the macro. That made it obvious something deeper — likely a lingering policy — was still enforcing restrictions.

I double-checked to make sure there were no Group Policies or Intune policies still linked to the Windows account. When none showed up, I suspected that the enterprise removal hadn’t cleaned up everything, especially from the registry.

I looked through this Microsoft Answers thread (https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/remove-microsoft-365-for-enterprise-from-personal/9b77d022-0f7a-479f-84ad-1e0f563f3396), which helped confirm that enterprise account removal doesn’t always fully clean up policy remnants. I also checked this Microsoft compliance doc (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/compliance/anz/e8-macro), which outlines how macros can be blocked via security policies like `vbawarnings` and `blockcontentexecutionfrominternet`.

With that in mind — and some help from AI to point me in the right direction — I was able to zero in on the relevant registry path. The suggestion wasn’t exact, but it gave me a close enough idea to figure out that this specific registry key needed to be changed:

ie: `HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Cloud\Office\16.0\word\security`

Inside, I found `vbawarnings` and `blockcontentexecutionfrominternet`. Deleting those finally resolved the issue. So the macro block was caused by residual enterprise policy settings that weren’t cleaned up during account removal.