Problem with Citations

rodgerbird

I've had a repeated problem when I go back to a document that I haven't worked on for a while. I work on a Mac (OS X 0.7) with OpenOffice (version 3.3.0) I will try to insert a new citation or edit an old one in an OpenOffice document (.odt) and I get an error message from Zotero, such as:

Item 3 in this citation no longer exists in your Zotero database. Do you want to select a substitute item? Clicking no will delete the field codes for containing this item, preserving the citation text but deleting from your bibliography.

There's yes, no, or cancel option.

I also got a pop up that says a script is running and do I want to stop it.

I've had this happen also when I try to edit a citation. It will stop on a different citation and tell me something is not in the library and do I want to pick another one. I don't think I've made any changes in my library that would cause this.

I'm wondering if this is some kind of bug.

Thanks.

adamsmith

It means you've likely somehow deleted the respective item in Zotero - e.g. by deleting a duplicate reference, but deleting the one that was in the document. You'll need to replace it.

rodgerbird

Well, since I posted, I tried it again. Zotero focused on a different cite and told me it didn't exist in my library and do I want to replace it. I said yes. I found the item in my library (which I hadn't deleted) and clicked on it. Then Zotero found a different cite and said it wasn't there (which it was). I went through the same thing, and then Zotero told me that there was an unexplained error. I closed everything and rebooted OO and Firefox and tried to insert a citation. I got the unexplained error again. This kind of thing has been happening repeatedly but just when I return to work on files that I hadn't worked on for a while. It's pretty strange.

Does this ring any bells? Any idea what's going on?

adamsmith

We'll need more details on the unexplained error you get.
http://www.zotero.org/support/reporting_bugs
In general, running through these steps often helps:
http://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_troubleshooting#debugging_broken_documents

otherwise, read this thread to understand what's going on.
http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/21745/message-saying-item-no-longer-exists-in-my-database-but-it-is-still-there/

rodgerbird

Here's the actual error message:

Zotero Integration Error

Zotero experienced an error updating your document.

TypeError: this.registry.citationreg.citationByld[c[0]] is unidentified.

adamsmith

see my edit above - run through the troubleshooting steps. You do have Zotero 3.0.1 installed, correct?

rodgerbird

Well, I went through the steps a couple of more times... each time Zotero highlighted the offending cites, I said yes and found them again in my library and replaced them. On about the third time through, everything started working again.

All the while the report error thing never went black, so I couldn't send you anything from there. And yes, I have Zotero 3.0.1.

I did read through that item you sent. I'm sure I also probably deleted some duplicates, but I'm still baffled why it took multiple attempts to replace the same exact cites before it all cleared up. But no matter. The important thing is that it's working now. Thank you for the help. I'll just persevere when it happens again with other documents.

How to you use the merge function? I was looking around for it but can't find it either in the drop downs or preferences.

Thanks again.

adamsmith

on the bottom of the left pane click on "Duplicate Item" - you can then click on items and merge them in the right hand pane.

rodgerbird

Oh neat--thanks!