Macbook Air, Lion, zotero

lara.pair
Hi Guys,
I recently bought a macbook air and have been using my Imac and zotero successfully for years (many thanks). Now I need the macbook because I will be travelling a lot and need to continue writing my articles and the like. BUT
I updated my computers to lion and installed zotero, I could import my library and everything appears to be fine using the latest firefox version. Unfortunately, when I try to use zotero now, it gives me a error message concerning cyrillic! and then it says I need to use visual basic for applications when downloading.
Needless to say I was looking through the fora and did not find what I need to do. I re-installed and followed the instructions on Zotero to the letter, but no dice.
Can someone help?
Thanks
Lara
  • mronkko
    Which versions of Firefox and Zotero do you have?

    Instead of importing a library, you should consider syncing the two computers

    http://www.zotero.org/support/sync
  • dstillman
    Yes, don't use import/export. But more generally, we can't help you without much more info.

    http://www.zotero.org/support/reporting_bugs
  • lara.pair
    Hi guys,
    I have Zotero 3.0.3 and I went through these instructions to get the word extention (word for mac 2011)
    "Mac

    The latest version of the Mac Word plugin for Zotero 2.1/3.0 is 3.1.10 (compatible with Word 2004, 2008, and 2011 and Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger or later, including Lion). Firefox 4+ compatibility requires 10.6 Snow Leopard or later, so users of 10.4 or 10.5 will need to upgrade or use Firefox 3.6.

    Install PythonExt (Firefox extension; build 111220). Don't forget this, or the plugin will not work.
    After installing PythonExt, install the Word for Mac Plugin for Zotero 2.1/3.0 (Firefox extension)

    Word 2008 users: Zotero functionality is located under the Word script menu. See here for more details."

    The Phyton Extension is activated.

    Firefox is Firefox 10.0.2

    Also, the syncing is not the problem but if I open a word document and want to use Zotero, I get the messages:

    "Can't load visual basic for applications" and when I click ok, the message:
    "Zotero cannot perform this action. Make sure the document is open.. ."


    Is that accurate enough? I do not really know what else I can say.... and I appreciate your help very much.
  • dstillman
    So the problem you're trying to solve is the Word plugin issue? Zotero itself is working?

    Have you tried accessing the Zotero plugin actions via the scripts menu?

    (And I understand the data isn't the problem here, but if you really meant "imported" you're going to run into problems later. If you meant "synced" via the Zotero server then that's fine.)
  • dstillman
    I believe the scripts menu will work regardless, but for the toolbar icons to work you might need to reinstall Word 2011 and make sure Visual Basic for Applications is enabled. That message is a Word error, not a Zotero one.
  • Sharain.Naylor
    I have been experiencing the same problem as Lara. When I select "add a citation" from my Word 2011 scroll the following two messages appear:

    Can't load Visual Basic for Applications
    Make sure Visual Basic for Applications is installed on your computer. If VBA is installed, make sure the path to the installation folder does not contain any characters outside of the system code page (such as Cyrillic characters on an English system) and contains fewer than 255 characters.

    Hit "okay" and then the following message pops up:

    Zotero could not perform this action. Please ensure that a document is open. If you have performed a custom installation of Office, you may need to run the installer again, ensuring that "Visual Basic for Applications" is selected.

    I did not custom install Word. My document is open. And I see VBA files under the Word application files. It looks like I have it. I don't know how to change path names. It seems weird to me that Word is generating this message, which means it doesn't know if it has VBA or not.

    Lara, did you get it to work? If so, how?

    Many thanks for your time and assistance!
  • Simon
    You could try moving Home/Library/Preferences/Microsoft to the desktop and see if it helps. (On Lion, you can open Home/Library by selecting Library from the Go menu while holding down the option key.) This will get rid of any customizations you've made to Office, but it might fix things. If it doesn't help and you want to restore the customizations, quit Office and put the old Microsoft folder back. (A new Microsoft folder will have been created in Home/Library/Preferences; you can safely replace it.)

    If that doesn't help, try reinstalling Office.
  • shanteparadigm
    I tried reinstalling and I still can't get the toolbar back (citation manager works from Apple Script. Grrr, argh, Word!

    How do you enable VBA?
  • Simon
    If the Script menu is working, VBA is enabled and working. You can reinstall the toolbar by following these instructions.
  • lara.pair
    @Sharain.Naylor

    That was exactly the problem and I have not solved it. I followed Simon's instructions and they did not work.

    Does anyone have a different idea?

    Best
    Lara
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