Word 2011 for Mac - Weird Things Going On

vglaser

I just opened a file I had been working on, and when I updated a citation, all of my zotero citations are now shaded GREY. I'm not sure what is happening, and can't seem to undo this major formatting problem. All other dimensions of Zotero seem to be working fine.

Thanks for your help,

Vern

dstillman

Word fields, which Zotero uses, are highlighted gray by default. If you don't like it, you can turn it off in the Word preferences, but it'll make it trickier to properly delete Zotero citations.

vglaser

I'm a little confused, I've used Zotero for three years now and have never had a zotero field be gray after I'd inserted the citation. The grey color only showed up when I highlighted the citation, not being there for every citation all the time. Has something changed?

dstillman

Don't know what to tell you. It's a Word setting. Options are Never, Always, and When Selected.

vglaser

thanks---that fixed it, is weird because it switched itself somehow. I really appreciate your quick response.

ccalametti

how do I fix this problem?

adamsmith

which problem exactly? Dan says everything there is to say about grey shaded fields. I would recommend not switching that off btw.

ccalametti

I am trying to type a research paper and the references have the grey shade. I can't submit my paper with the grey shaded references. I figured out how to turn it off, why do you recommend not turning it off?

adamsmith

Mainly because the grey fields signal where Zotero citations are and prevent you from inadvertently editing them in the Word document.

Grey fields don't print, won't show up in PDFs (in almost situations the preferable format if you're submitting a paper) and if your submitting the paper as .doc, .docx, or .odt, you should sent a copy(!) with field codes removed anyway (the unlinkend chain button in the plugin), which will remove the shaded fields as well.