Zotero freezing on Mac

geoffarsenal

The application seems to be freezing after adding a citation in a Word doc on Mac. I'm able to add the citation, but then it doesn't drop back to the main library and I have to close the application completely. Any recommendations for fixes?

dstillman

How large is the document, and how long are you waiting?

Does it happen in a new, empty document?

If so, what exact version of Word? Can you provide a Report ID?

geoffarsenal

The document is pretty large (44 pages), but I think what seems to be causing the freezing issue is a pop-up message asking if I want to regenerate the citation.

I'm using Zotero 7.0.30, and Word for Mac 16.104.

I tried playing around with a new document with a few test citations and the same thing happened.

dstillman

We still need a Report ID. We also need exact steps to reproduce it in a new, empty document.

Can you provide a screenshot of the message you’re referring to?

geoffarsenal

I can't really give you a report ID because the application freezes and the only thing I can do is close it. When I reopen it and click on report errors it says that no errors have been logged since restarting... I'll provide a screen shot next time I'm working on a document and the message comes up.

dstillman

We still always want to see a Report ID, even if it's from before the problem happens.

I'll provide a screen shot next time I'm working on a document and the message comes up.

But you said you could reproduce it in a new, empty document with a few test citations… I'm asking for steps to reproduce that and a screenshot.

geoffarsenal

Okay, I hope the below helps:

I did the following steps and the error occurred:

1. Created a new Word test doc with three citations.

2. Opened Zotero and did two citations successfully. Citation one was a newspaper report. Citation two was a document.

3. Attempted to do citation three and the application froze with the pop-up message asking about regenerating the citation. I now can't do anything other than close the application as it has frozen.

Below are some screenshots.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u11945666/4ecq0jwnijfm0ylzn41x.jpg
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u11945666/wroa4zdoe9v1a5avtunp.jpg
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u11945666/1ixbeqhwgx80x7oa2ngu.jpg
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u11945666/cwq0qg22k3pio48gks7i.jpg

geoffarsenal

To further clarify, the pop-up message didn't actually fully appear. The application just froze with that window that you can see in screenshots 3-4.

appName => Zotero, version => 7.0.30 (ARM64), os => macOS 15.6.1, locale => en-AU, extensions =>

geoffarsenal

Here's some more screenshots of the freezing issue happening while using a larger document (44 pages). Any help to resolve this problem would be great. It seems to be happening every time I use Zotero now.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u11945666/b861cp4mdbfc9wvz4z0n.jpg
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u11945666/f94ghqoy1vzhx49akgaj.jpg
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u11945666/pzhdjue6njp79v71ahmx.jpg

geoffarsenal

Update:

I just tried creating a new test Word doc again. I was able to insert two citations successfully, but the application froze on the third (same as the first test I mentioned above). Definitely seems to be an issue with this pop-up 'regenerate the citation' message. It appears to happen when I have the editor window open in classic mode to view the citation before inserting it (as per the screenshots above).

Is there a setting that I can disable to stop this from happening?

adamsmith

Could you try disabling the Endnote add-on in Word for testing? I don't believe there's a known conflict, but since they do very similar things it's at least not impossible they affect each other.

dstillman

That's some sort of strange visual glitch on your system, and I'd guess you can just press Return to accept the dialog, but you also should almost never manually modify citations, either in the document or in that editor in the classic citation dialog that you're using. Are you doing so intentionally?

In any case, the classic citation dialog is being removed in Zotero 8, which will be out soon, so there's nothing to look into here. You should avoid using that editor, switch back to the default citation dialog, or try the Zotero 8 beta, which includes a new citation dialog with a Library mode that works similarly to the classic dialog.

geoffarsenal

Yes, it's some kind of strange error that it causing it to glitch and freeze. When this happens, I can't do anything other that force close the application. I can't click on anything in the program.

I generally use the editor in classic mode in two ways.

1. Checking that my citations are correct before inserting them into my document. I find this is especially helpful for citations that contain multiple sources.

2. Sometimes adding extra text information to the citation to give it more detail or explanation.

If there is another way to do point 2, please let me know. The only way I know how to do this is through the editor.

If I'm doing something wrong and it's a user error causing this, please let me know.

dstillman

I can't click on anything in the program.

Did you try pressing Return?

If there is another way to do point 2, please let me know.

Use a Prefix or Suffix:

https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_usage#customizing_cites

The dialog not appearing properly on your system is obviously some sort of glitch, but you should not be editing citation text in normal usage. (The whole point of the prompt is to tell you that the citation will need to be regenerated to update the citation and any changes made in the editor will be lost.)

geoffarsenal

Thank you for clearing this up for me! I will avoid using the editor from now on. I also removed EndNote as a Word add-in. The program seems to be running smoother now.