Different volumes come out as duplicate entries

When I create a bibliography from multiple similar items at once, I get duplicate entries instead of the difference which should show up between these similar titles. Here is an example of two different volumes in my library:
1. Rainer Hannig, Ägyptisches Wörterbuch: Mittleres Reich und zweite Zwischenzeit (von Zabern, 2006).
2. Rainer Hannig, Ägyptisches Wörterbuch: Altes Reich und Erste Zwischenzeit (P. von Zabern, 2003).

And when I create a bibliography with these two items, it exports as duplicates of the first:
1. Rainer Hannig, Ägyptisches Wörterbuch: Mittleres Reich und zweite Zwischenzeit (von Zabern, 2006).
2. Rainer Hannig, Ägyptisches Wörterbuch: Mittleres Reich und zweite Zwischenzeit (von Zabern, 2006).

How can I resolve this?
  • This is a known bug, but I don't think it's fixed and I don't think any of the devs has ever reproduced it. Which Zotero version are you running?
    Could you help us troubleshoot and export the two items as a Zotero.rdf file, open that with a text editor and post the entire content to a public gist at gist.github.com
  • Thanks for the fast response. I am using 2.1.10. I will post the content of the rdf file asap.
  • edited October 21, 2011
    https://gist.github.com/1304675

    Here is the gist with the .rdf opened using notepad.
  • sorry, misunderstanding, I should have explained that more clearly - you posted rTf, we need is rDf:
    select the items in questions ---> export ---> ZoteroRDF (leave the notes and files boxes unchecked).
    (then open with notepad and post to gist like you did)
  • Apologies for not reading more closely. Here is the RDF:

    https://gist.github.com/1304720
  • yep, that's the right one, thanks - let's see if that helps us figure things out.
  • At least on 3.0b I can't reproduce this - I'll try on 2.1 later.
  • I have no idea what "gist" means here, or what that code is supposed to do.

    However, I'm having the same problem with version 2.1.10. Here's what I'm doing:

    (Highlight multiple items)
    Right click and select "Create Bibliography from Selected Items"
    Chicago Manual of Style (Note Without Bibliography)
    Copy to Clipboard (*This would be a great feature, if it only worked...)

    I get the correct number of citations, but duplicates are substituted for distinct entries. Seems to be done where the an author's last name is cited multiple times, even if first name is different -- for example, "Freedman, DA" replaces "Freedman, David" -- or there are multiple authors.

    I haven't checked to verify a one-to-one correspondence, though, so can't specify the bug perfectly. Sure seems to be happening to other people, though. As others have indicated, the problem doesn't exist when exporting single items.

    Questions:

    Is this bug reproducible by the developers?
    Is there a fix or workaround?

    Can someone explain what's going on in a way that is intelligible to people like who are not developers?

    Thanks. This is a fantastic product for gathering citations online, but it can't replace EndNote until this bug is gone. On the other hand, I'd pay $50-100 for this software if it were bug-free.
  • AFAIK no developer has been able to reproduce this, hence also no fix.
    If we knew what was going on, there would likely be a fix already, so unfortunately no, I can't explain it to you.
    Everything in this thread you don't understand (gist, RDF whatever) was just for troubleshooting, don't worry about it. (FYI, though, a "public gist at gist.github.com" is just a way to post a textfile on the web so that everyone can look at it - see one of the links posted by aeaustin).

    A workaround would be to work with the word processor plugin instead.
  • Thanks for the quick response, I appreciate it.

    I'll try the word processor plugin tomorrow at work. Even if that works, the ability to copy a text bibliography directly to clipboard would be valuable to users.

    It seems hard to believe that I and others are encountering this problem, while it can't be replicated by developers.

    If it is a real bug, then clearly it's an important one. Based on the importance, I suggest that one or more developers try it again.

    I'm running Windows 7 on my Lenovo work machine, and the latest version of Firefox. Here again is what I'm doing:

    Highlight multiple items within a folder
    Right click the highlighted items and select "Create Bibliography from Selected Items"
    Select "Chicago Manual of Style (Note Without Bibliography)"
    Select "Copy to Clipboard"
    Ctrl-V into a Word 2010 document

    Duplicate entries appear, replacing unique entries. It seems to have something to do with the author name, but the correspondence is not perfectly specific.

    I'm happy to work with developers to figure this out by trying suggested fixes or replicating someone else's attempt. This could be a useful thread to everyone out there encountering the same problem.
    Thanks.
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