Footnote numbering and cross-references with multiple sections

eeastaugh

I am working on a large (300+ page) document with multiple chapters. I have inserted section breaks between each chapter in order to have footnotes start renumbering for each one. But Zotero doesn't seem to notice, and so the cross-refences in my footnotes are unclear (it just says "n 1" without distinguishing between chapters, and it doesn't automatically provide a full citation the first time a text is cited in a new chapter).

Is there a way to fix this?

Using Word for Mac 14.4.7 and Zotero Firefox plugin 4.0.28.10.

Thanks!

adamsmith

no, sorry, Zotero can only do cross-references starting from 1 at the beginning of the document (I'd actually expect it to cross-reference incorrectly when referring to items after the first section break, no?).

Best I can suggest is authoring in chapters and re-assembling after deleting Zotero field codes. If that workds depends on what type of cross references you need, of course. If you want something like "ch. 3, n 1", that's honestly unlikely to ever be possible.

eeastaugh

Thanks. I would imagine the best solution would be to have the program 'reset' for each new section, so that each chapter gets a full citation, which then becomes the reference point for any cross-references in the chapter. But I realise that may not be possible (I know nothing about coding). I can just remove the section breaks, it's not that big a deal in my case--I just wanted to avoid having footnotes in the 1200's!

adamsmith

Yeah, I didn't code this, but my recollection is that this was at least not easily doable the way Word structures documents.

See my suggestion, though: By splitting the document up into chapter documents, Zotero would do exactly what you want. Then remove field codes in a copy of each chapter, paste them toegether, and you're good.

ralb

It is unfortunate that Zotero cannot accommodate for section breaks and restarted footnote numbering in MS Word! I am dealing with the same exact problem as eeastaugh and I was hoping that I would not have to removing the code, but it seems like the only option. I hope that you guys consider developing this feature in the future.

fbennett

@ralb: For what it's worth, I provide thesis support to postgrad students in the Law Faculty here at Nagoya, and we face the same issue. I would be delighted (as maintainer of the citation processor) to get a robust solution in place that allows arbitrary resets of numbering and citation forms with a unified bibliography: it would save me a lot of time. Unfortunately, it really is a hard problem.

OleJensen

Agreed, this feature would be extremely helpful! The problem with splitting up into single documents is that it gets quite complicated if work in the full document is needed (e.g. cross-referencing between paragraphs) and afterwards certain citations need to be modified...

riw777

Splitting the document into multiple documents and then pasting it back together actually does not work in most cases ... This is a feature zotero needs to be useful.

bwiernik

@riw77 Splitting the document works fine in most cases, and many users have found that approach useful over the years.

riw777

It doesn't work, actually -- see my answer on the other thread. Either you can get the correct citations at the head of each chapter, OR you can get a correct bibliography. You cannot get both.

djross3

(You want multiple bibliographies in your document, one for each chapter, then a combined one at the end? Zotero does not do that, and that's a very rare need. You can do it manually by combining everything at the end.
--
OK, nevermind, I see this is already being discussed in multiple places: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/23842/need-full-citations-for-each-new-chapter )