Scannable cite replacements missing parentheses

adamibaker
Using the standalone version of Zotero Mac (4.0.28.8) and most recent scannable cite. The following:

`often used to describe someone involved in an episode of care { | Greene, & Partridge, 2007 | | |zu:1546826:B3VCFIIS} and playing`

is scanned, with the citation turned into

`often used to describe someone involved in an episode of care Greene, & Partridge, 2007 and playing`

Missing parentheses around the (citation). Also, those extra commas are strange but I can get rid of them with search and replace. Any thoughts on whether this is a bug or something I can fix on my end?
  • fbennett
    Does the citation form improve when you refresh the document?
  • adamibaker
    Refresh the document? I'm not sure what you mean since it's not a Web page.

    It's an .odt so I have closed it and opened it again and again with my text editor, but it does not change.
  • fbennett
    Sorry, I could have been more complete. Zotero updates citations in the document automatically, if Zotero (Z-Firefox or Z-Standalone) is open on the same machine when the document is being edited and (in the case of Z-Firefox) the appropriate word processor integration plugin is installed in Firefox.

    If those conditions are met, you should see some Zotero buttons in your word processor (it varies a little across systems, but they generally appear in the menu bar across the top). One of those buttons is for "Refresh," and when you click on it, you should be prompted to select a style, and then the citations will update to their correct form.
  • adamsmith
    No, I think this is just a misunderstanding: what you're seeing are just placeholders, not citations. You're missing the last step in the process, which is to select a citation style under set document preferences in the LibreOffice add-on. After that, citations will be formatted according to the citation style you select -- i.e. in parentheses when you select APA or Chicago (author-date).

    (btw. much easier for us if you just report this in one place -- I prefer here, but github is fine, too. Just don't duplicate, please).
  • adamibaker
    I must be confused. I thought that this was a process that I could follow:

    Using Zotero standalone for Mac, with the Scannable Cite add-on installed for Zotero standalone.

    1. Export my document with scannable placeholders to .odt format.
    2. Set my citation export style in Zotero standalone to APA.
    3. Choose Tools > RTF Scan… and use the "File type" option "ODF (to citations).

    I imagined that that would take my .odt with the placeholder {} citations, and convert them to APA style in the output document. Instead, I see the results above—the correct Author and Date, but no parentheses () around the citation.

    Is that not correct?
  • fbennett
    Step 2 is not needed, and there is one further step: open the document in LibreOffice, and click the "Refresh" button (the one with circling arrows). At that point, you should be prompted for the style, and you can select APA.
  • adamibaker
    I'm still confused. I've installed LibreOffice now, and all the plug-ins. The Zotero toolbar appears in LibreOffice. I've followed the instructions here (https://zotero-odf-scan.github.io/zotero-odf-scan/).

    The document opens fine, and I can manually insert citations using the toolbar in LibreOffice, but the Scannable Cite-formatted markers (e.g. { | Greene, & Partridge, 2007 | | |zu:1546826:B3VCFIIS}) are *not* translated into my selected citation style when i click the 'refresh' button.

    Seriously thankful for any help you all can offer—this process is confusing and doesn't seem to be producing the expected results.
  • fbennett
    You did Step 3 above, opened the (citations) version of the document, and it still contained the raw markers?
  • emilianoeheyns
    I'm likewise confused. I thought that if I chose ODF scan I'd get a standalone document with just the references expanded in-place, and a bibliography added, but ODF scan instead adds the citations as the LO plugin would (right)? Which means it's not a workaround for https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/71067/an-error-occurred-communicating-with-zotero/p1 for me.
  • fbennett
    RTF Scan does that. ODF Scan produces dynamic fields.
  • emilianoeheyns
    Right. RTF scan doesn't always pick up my citations though. I've gotten around it for now by moving my citations out of the table.
  • fbennett
    If it doesn't involve a huge number of references, you could also just drag those in as static text.
  • emilianoeheyns
    It doesn't involve a huge number of references, but I'd much rather keep them dynamic in the source document.

    If only these people didn't insist on Word documents... ugh.
  • fbennett
    Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the merely good. :-)
  • emilianoeheyns
    I hear ya, but errors in my bibliography cost me points last time, and this time there's grant money on the line. With my schedule, doing anything manually is actively inviting disaster to strike.

    What I need is a LaTeX-ish tool that will excrete reasonable Word files. Not holding my breath.
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