Installing the Sync Mac Word 2008 Plugin

estrand

I've got my zotero plugin installed here, and I can see and click on the buttons under the Applescript menu, but nothing happens. I click on Add Citation but nothing happens. Same for all the other buttons. It doesn't matter if I'm working in a new document or an old one that already has citations in it. Nothing happens. Looking in the forums it seems as though the same thing has happened to others and it didn't look as if it were ever resolved. I don't mean to sound ungrateful for what is, after all, a free service, but couldn't you guys have warned us somehow that by upgrading to the latest version of sync we might lose our Word plugin capability? Opening Firefox it just told me a newer version was available, had I realized that I would lose my Word plugin, I never would have installed the new version. I'm in the middle of a big paper and I just lost that functionality.

dstillman

If you're in the middle of a big paper, you should be using the stable release, 1.0.7, rather than a preview release with a large data loss warning across the top advising you only to use it with a test copy of your library—or, at the very least, you should monitor the forums for a few days before upgrading, as new versions of any software carry risks of incompatibilities and glitches.

Follow (or, better yet, contribute to) the original thread, and as soon as a solution is available, you'll know about it.

estrand

I HAVE backed up my library, more than once, in more than one place. My issue isn't with possible data loss, it's with the fact that your new word 2008 for Mac plugin to go with the zotero sync 3.2 doesn't work, and there's nothing to warn you of the loss of that when you install the latest version of the sync. That's the warning I would have appreciated. Loss of functionality in the word plugin and loss of data are two different things, and your warnings don't include the first. I'm going to uninstall zotero, uninstall the word plugin, reinstall with earlier versions and use one of my backup libraries so I can get back to work.

Simon

Have you tried the new version of the installer (updated 19 hours ago)?

dstillman

estand: I wasn't just referring to the potential for data loss. The point is that the Sync Preview is a preview release (essentially, an alpha version) under active development, and you should be prepared for unexpected changes and problems, particularly after upgrades, which is why I would recommend monitoring the forums for a few days before upgrading if you choose to use the Sync Preview in production. (Of course, really you should be wary of upgrading any software, stable or not, at critical times.)

By the way, we updated the Sync Preview page when 3.2 was released to indicate that it requires 2.0a1, the new alpha version of the plugin. As the thread I linked to above indicates, the problem you and others were experiencing was fixed within about 24 hours of its being reported, so if you'd like to continue using the Sync Preview, grab the version of the installer that Simon linked to and give it a try.

rkpai

I downloaded a trial of sync preview an downloaded and installed the latest word 2008 (2.0a2) plug-in for MacOS but when I open up word the zotero toolbar is nowhere to be found. Has anyone else had this problem? Do I need to do anything special?

dstillman

In Word 2008, there's a Zotero menu under the Word AppleScript menu in the OS X menu bar (a little manuscript icon). You can use the shortcut keys for quicker access. Word 2008 doesn't currently provide a way for us to use toolbar buttons.

pomoumi

I installed the latest word 2008 plugin for Mac OS, but I can't see the zotero menu in the Word AppleScript menu (which is actually empty). Anyone have an idea? Thanks

dstillman

Are you using a non-English version of Word (or OS X)?

pomoumi

Yes indeed (french version). I solved the problem thanks to your link. Thank you so much for such a quick reply!

hannes

Thanks you! The link for non-English versions of word has made my day. I have just installed a french version of word for mac + zotero 1.5. Everything seems to be working fine now.
I still have one question left. I followed very closely the suggestions on the zotero homepage. I have installed zotero 1.5 in Firefox 3.2. using a new firefox profile. Does this mean I always will have to use Firefox with my new profile?

dstillman

I have installed zotero 1.5 in Firefox 3.2. using a new firefox profile. Does this mean I always will have to use Firefox with my new profile?

No. The instructions there assume a test installation of the Sync Preview. If you're no longer using Zotero 1.0.x, you could install 1.5 into your original profile and copy the 1.5 data directory back to your original profile. With Firefox closed, move the old 'zotero' directory out of the way, restart Firefox in that profile (you should see a new empty library), install 1.5, close Firefox, and then copy the 1.5 'zotero' directory into the old profile.

Be sure to back up everything before making any changes.

If you have additional questions on this, please start a new thread.

jofish

Perhaps it might be worth mention in the next version of the installer when you point out that Zotero has been installed that the Zotero buttons can be found "under the Word AppleScript menu which looks like a little manuscript button in your menu bar." It wouldn't be a difficult thing to do, but would make the lives of beta testers like myself a bit easier -- I looked all over the place trying to find it.

Thanks.

humanengr

I see that the installer put the scripts in a "Zotero" folder in "Documents/Microsoft User Data/Word Script Menu Items".

However, with that placement, the scripts did not appear in the Word script menu. Thoughts?

Moving the "Zotero" folder to "Library/Scripts/Applications/Word" allows them to appear in the global scripts menu and enables their function.

dstillman

humanengr: If you select "About This Menu..." from the Word script menu and click Open Folder, where does it put you? Unless you changed a setting or are using a non-English build of Word, it should be "Documents/Microsoft User Data/Word Script Menu Items", and you should see the Zotero menu if the Zotero folder is located there.

humanengr

Yes, after installation, the Zotero folder was located in the "Documents/Microsoft User Data/Word Script Menu Items".

However, no Zotero scripts folder appeared in the menu itself.

(I don't recall changing any setting; I am using an English build of Word.)

dstillman

You didn't answer my question. Did "Open Folder" put you in the same "Word Script Menu Items" folder?

humanengr

In my MS Word 2008 for Mac v. 12.1.7 setup, the "Open Folder" button leads to "Library/Preferences/Microsoft User Data/Word Script Menu".

dstillman

OK. That's the problem, then. I don't see any indication that that's a default location, though. Are you sure you didn't move the folder there yourself (based on, say, advice on MacNN, which is linked from a Mac OS X Hints thread)?

We could probably change the installer to look for "Microsoft User Data" in Library/Preferences if it's not in Documents. Anyhow, you can move the Zotero folder into that folder and it should show up in the Word script menu.

humanengr

No, I didn't move it or change any settings anywhere -- knowingly, that is. (Might some other installer have done that surreptitiously?)

I do have a "Microsoft User Data/Word Script Menu" folder in both places. The problem is that (my installation of) Word ignores the "Documents" version.

There are a variety of scripts folders for all the MS Office components in both "Documents" and "Library/Preferences". The script folders in the former have scripts, whereas the script folders in the latter are empty. None of the scripts show up in the menu until I move them to latter.

Did MS change the location where they installed scripts between 2000, X, and 2008?

Would it make most sense to install it in both places?

dstillman

Did MS change the location where they installed scripts between 2000, X, and 2008?

Not that we know of. Zotero uses the one in Documents because that is, as far as we know, the default in Word 2008, and it's the only one we've seen mentioned in any documentation (on microsoft.com and elsewhere). You're the first person to report that it's using another folder.

The problem is that (my installation of) Word ignores the "Documents" version.

What happens if you move the scripts back to the one in Documents and move the Microsoft User Data in Preferences out of the way?

humanengr

Moved the scripts back to Documents; moved Library/Preferences/Microsoft User Data to the desktop.

The scripts still don't appear.