Error message: you must place cursor in Zotero citation to edit it

robheimburger
Hello,

I keep getting this error message: "You must place the cursor in a Zotero citation to edit it."

I got Zotero to generate Report ID: 1707249441

I am using updated copies of Zotero, Word 2010, Windows 7, and Chicago 16th ed. (full note). This error happens near the beginning of a Word document, but not at the end of the same document. I have created a reference on one of the first pages of the document and then been unable to edit it. I copy and paste it to the end of the document, and there I'm allowed to edit it. The document has been pasted together from different documents, though I think the formatting is uniform. This is mysterious! Can you help?
  • adamsmith
    Is this only the first reference that's affected or any reference early in the document?
    There has been an issue in the past where people weren't able to edit the first reference and since that's easy to work around it may not have gotten fixed properly.
  • adamsmith
    (also: Dan - could you look at the error report? Is there something unusual? This _can_ be due to a corrupted citation, I believe, but I'd rather not send Rob on a wild chase if there's nothing to indicate that)
  • robheimburger
    A moment ago, I was having trouble with notes 1 and 7, but just now, it looks like only note 1 is causing me trouble.

    So, I created an earlier note 1 and then tried to edit the citation in what became note 2. I cannot edit note 2 now, but I can edit note 8 and notes farther down. I've tried editing other notes, and Zotero is taking a long time to process edits on a computer that's usually not too slow.

    Thanks for the prompt reply.
  • robheimburger
    Hello,

    I'm still able to edit citations in notes 3 and following. I created a citation and then copy and pasted it to note 2. There, when I tried to edit the note, it gave me an error message, and I generated

    Report ID 351363523

    The note is there, but Zotero does not update it. So, for instance, it shows a short title when the citation is the first citation for the element in question.
  • adamsmith
    OK, so we're just talking about one note now?
    Could you try deleting and re-inserting it?
  • dstillman
    Second report contains this:
    "[Exception... "'Object has been deleted. code: "0" function: "zoteroWinWordField::SetText" location: "zoteroWinWordField.cpp"' when calling method: [zoteroWinWordIntegrationErrorHandler::throwError]" nsresult: "0x8057001e (NS_ERROR_XPC_JS_THREW_STRING)" location: "JS frame :: chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/integration.js :: :: line 1596" data: no]" {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/integration.js" line: 1596}]

    [JavaScript Error: "'Object has been deleted. code: "0" function: "zoteroWinWordField::SetText" location: "zoteroWinWordField.cpp"' when calling method: [zoteroWinWordIntegrationErrorHandler::throwError]" {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/integration.js" line: 1596}]"
  • adamsmith
    yep, that's exactly what I was looking for. Looks like a corrupted citation. Try deleting the one that isn't working. If that doesn't help we'll need to do some more systematic debugging.
  • domcorriveau
    I'm having this same problem. Same error message, first note only. I have Windows 7, Word 2010, and the Zotero standalone. It happens in all my documents for the first note, so it isn't an isolated corrupt citation.
  • adamsmith
    Right, first note wouldn't surprise me that much, though it should still get fixed. But that's not what Rob is seeing.
  • robheimburger
    I've tried a range of possibilities, including deleting and re-creating the citation. Now, it looks like the very first Zotero citation in the document is one that can't be edited. If there are two separate citation fields in note 1, I can edit the second but not the first. The same thing is happening in every Word document I open, though I don't think it happened before.

    For the time being, I've put in a ghost citation that I can delete later. If you have a better solution, please tell me.
  • adamsmith
    OK, great, so that's exactly the same issue for everyone now. For the time being, a ghost citation is the way to go, that wouldn't seem to be much of hassle.
    Simon will need to take a look - it's a Word only issue, doesn't affect the LibreOffice plugin.
  • movassaghian
    happen to me as well
This discussion has been closed.