Custom Citation Style Not Available in Document Preferences

mattchoj

Hi All,
Awhile back I created a slightly modified version of the AGU style on my laptop, which worked fine. Since then, I have changed jobs and have a new desktop computer. Zotero is installed as part of Firefox 17, with the proper add-ons, and is working fine with Word Mac 2011. However, I cannot seem to add my custom .csl file (it does not appear under Document Preferences). I tried adding to :User/Library/Application Support/Zotero/Profiles…../zotero/styles on my hard drive to no avail. Also, I cannot find a way to add online to the Zotero add-on Preferences?
Any help would be most appreciated!
MC

adamsmith

http://www.zotero.org/support/styles#alternative_installation_methods
if that doesn't work we'd need to see the style. Just putting it into the style directory is a bad idea.

Also, I cannot find a way to add online to the Zotero add-on Preferences?

sorry, don't think I follow this. but if you actually mean online at zotero.org then you can't change the available output styles.

mattchoj

Thanks Adam,
That was it: I was looking in the wrong places......
MC

gestauffer

I also can't seem to install a custom style. I made very minor tweaks to the Oecologia style and saved it as a .csl file, but can't seem to successfully install it. I tried 1) Installing from Zotero preferences, and 2) dragging file and dropping in a Firefox window.
In both cases, Firefox asked me if I wanted to install the style. I click yes, and all seems well. But when I check to see if it is available, the style does not appear in the list of installed styles.
I've tried closing and reopening Firefox, and I've tried rebooting, but no success. Am I missing something?

Thanks,
ges

Rintze

@gestauffer, make sure that the style is placed outside of the "styles" directory (e.g. move it to the desktop) before you try to install. You can also check whether your modified copy is valid CSL (see https://github.com/citation-style-language/styles/wiki/Validation for instructions ).

adamsmith

If that doesn't help, copy the file to a public gist at gist.github.com and provide the URL here so we can have a look.

gestauffer

OK, I got it to work, I think. I had taken out the line:

<id>http://www.zotero.org/styles/oecologia</id>;

because it was not Oecologia anymore. When I put back in the line:
<id>http://www.zotero.org/styles/</id>;

it seems to work. It seems kludgy, but I don't have a URL to specify here, and it seems that one is required. It would not validate without the <id> line.

Rintze

For custom styles the style ID doesn't have to be a URL (any text will do), but an ID is required since it's how Zotero identifies the style.

dstillman

(But it'd be better not to use something generic like "http://www.zotero.org/styles/".)

gestauffer

Got it. I replaced with just some random text, and it still validates and works OK.
I think I am good to go, except that in name particles like "van" the first letter still gets capitalized (except when it is not the first citation, in a group of citations). But that is a different topic, and I will just hand-edit these at the end.

Many thanks for your help!

GHLibrarian

Is it still the case, in 2018, that that you can't change the available output citation styles in the online version of Zotero? I'd like to set the citation default for my library to the Journal of Applied Physiology.

adamsmith

That's still correct, yes

GHLibrarian

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. It's an older thread so I wanted to check. I'm trying to help a student with a Chromebook - the online version of Zotero has some limitations for her, including this issue.

adamsmith

Yeah, Zotero is really quite limited with a Chromebook, to the extent that I'd question if Zotero is a good choice. The website will add some more functionality in the future and you can technically use the Zotero API to produce citations in any citation style, but that's going to look a bit daunting

(See the last example here: https://www.zotero.org/support/dev/web_api/v3/basics#example_get_requests_and_responses on the API)

GHLibrarian

I'm not sure the student wants to go down that road but it's good to know about the Zotero API. Thanks. It's going to be a problem with a Word plug-in too, no matter what online citation manager we use. I don't think there is a great option yet for a Chromebook.

adamsmith

You can look at Paperpile, which is specifically designed for all-around google integration. It's for pay, though.

Or they could write in a tool like Authorea or Overleaf.