LibreOffice Plugin does not work offline

seakha

Hi,
I am using Zotero FF add-on and LibreOffice 3.4.2 in Fedora 15. Starting form today (November 16, 2011), I faced a new problem. When I wanted to use LibreOffice plugin to insert citations I need to be connected to internet, otherwise it prompts and error. I never had such a problem. When I am connected to internet it works well, but when I am not connected to internet it prompts:"OpenOffice.org could not communicate with Zotero. Please ensure Firefox or Zotero Standalone is open and set to an online state and try again." I do not remember that it was required to be connected to internet to use word processor plugin before. I tested on a Windows machine the Microsoft word plugin works well when it is not connected to internet.
I am using LibreOffice 3.4.2, Firefox 7.0.1, Zotero LibreOffice Integration 3.5b2, and Zotero 2.1.10 (I also tested Zotero 3.0b2 but the same problem exist).
Any idea how to resolve this issue?

adamsmith

See if Firefox is in offline mode - and if so, disable that (w/o connection to the internet FF switches into offline mode, but it doesn't have to be).
That used to be an issue way back, could be that it has returned.

seakha

Thanks, your reply time is impressive! So prompt. Your solution works and when I uncheck offline mode in FF the plugin works. It seems, as you mentioned, the old issue has returned.
Thanks again.

John_muccigrosso

Just had this problem this morning with an up-to-date MAcBook Pro installation using NeoOffice. Lion and Zotero at the latest versions. Worked fine once I was in the office and on-line.

Where do I check the off-line mode?

seakha

When you are in offline mode in Firefox you should see "Work Offline" in the "Firefox" tab (on the top right side) if you cannot find it there, then you can check off the offline mode in the "File" menu. To see the menus (like the older versions of FF) you have to go to "Firefox" tab on top right side, and in "Preferences" check "Menu Bar" then you can see the "File" menu and at the bottom you can see "Work Offline" uncheck this.

To hide menus again go to "View" --> "Toolbars" --> uncheck "Menu Bar"

I hope this works for you.

John_muccigrosso

Thanks. So:

1. This is a bug in Zotero, right?
2. No way to implement this "work off-line" thing from within Zotero? (FF is not my default browser.)

adamsmith

John - so are you using Zotero Standalone?
And no, while potentially inconvenient, that's no considered a bug.

John_muccigrosso

Yes.

"works as expected" isn't a great answer here. Why should Zotero care whether I'm on line or not? The problems are obvious.

adamsmith

Zotero doesn't care whether you're online. It cares whether Firefox allows for connections, which it doesn't in offline mode - including to the LO plugin.
The fact that this setting is triggered but not accessible through Standalone would seem to be a bug, though.
Until that's addressed, you could follow these instructions:
http://joomla.unlikelysource.com/index.php/misc-tutorials-category/40-howto-firefox-offline
to turn off FF automatic offline mode. You'd only have to do this once.

Simon

In Firefox we can't do anything about this, beyond advising people to set preferences.

Zotero Standalone should never go offline once it's open. The next version should also not start up in offline mode.

John_muccigrosso

This would suggest that the standalone really doesn't.

adamsmith

sorry, I don't understand?

John_muccigrosso

The standalone really doesn't stand alone if it's looking at Firefox for settings.

Simon

It's not. There is a separate offline setting in Zotero Standalone, and if you launch it while you are offline it starts up in offline mode (in the current version). The next version won't do that.