no field codes in any of my documents anymore

nomplok
ID: 1480038636

Saving and closing the LO document seems to remove the Zotero field codes. I only use citations in footnotes. When I re-open the document, there is only text so it is not possible to insert a bibliography etc.

I can insert new citations, and these are Zotero fields until I save and close the document. When I re-open the document, there is only text in place of the Zotero fields.

Help!

Specs
Zotero 4.0.28.7
LO 5.0.5.2
Done this on both Windows 10 and Apple OS
  • fbennett
    In what form have you been saving documents? Field codes will be preserved by LO only if the document is saved in ODT format.
  • nomplok
    Please let that be it! I saved this document as .docx. Will go back to odt. Will keep you posted!
  • fbennett
    That was definitely the issue, then. Saves in ODT should work fine.
  • nomplok
    This worked. Thanks!
  • David Kanaan
    I'm having the same problem. I'm using Microsoft office, and Zotero 4.0.29.17 on windows 10. Apparently the formats are the opposite on windows. I saved in OTD and lost all the fields (200 of them!). Now working in docx and it's working fine. Is there any fix for this so that fields aren't lost based on document formatting?
  • bwiernik
    edited April 16, 2017
    You need to save documents in the native format for the word processor (.docx for Word, .odt for LibreOffice) to preserve Zotero's field codes, as Zotero uses specific features of each program that requires the native format.

    If you need to pass the document between authors using different programs, you can do so by opening the Document Preferences window in the Zotero Ribbon tab/toolbar and selecting "Bookmarks" instead of Fields/Reference Marks. Then you can save as .docx or .odt without losing Zotero connections. Note, though, that bookmarks are more fragile and prone to errors, so you should only use this option if you absolutely must move the document between Word and LibreOffice.
  • sfredbeard
    Please bear with me, I'm new here. I'm using Zotero 4.0.29.19 with Fire-Fox, version 53.0.2 (64bit). Version of Microsoft Word for MAC is: 15.30. It shows the Zotero tool bar and I can create new documents, set document to APA, and generate a bibliography from newly created citations. That said selected citations in text do not show a gray field code when a citation is selected in the document as I'm accustomed to. The problem is none of my Zotero citations appear in any of my saved documents which were previously filled with Zotero citations and bibliographies. Please Help if you can. Thought I was putting the finishing touches on my dissertation and now looks like I may have to redo hundreds and hundreds of citations. Thank you
  • bwiernik
    Did you ever open your document in an editor other than Desktop word (e.g., Word Online, Google Docs, Dropbox Online, LibreOffice)? If you place your cursor in an old citation and click the Edit Citation button, does the Zotero dialog pop up with the reference in it? Do you have an older version of the document saved that does have the field codes intact?
  • sfredbeard
    Never opened in another editor. When I place cursor in old citation and edit, the otero dialogue does come up and I can change the citation or parts of it (i.e. page number). The docs I've been working with are from about a year ago. It seems following your steps they are intact, just not showing as codes when cursor on a citation.
  • sfredbeard
    Thank you for responding by the way ;-)
  • bwiernik
    Okay, so the citations are working fine. You say that when you insert the bibliography, it doesn't show the old citations? Could you check that by deleting the bibliography and re-inserting it? If the citations work as you say, they should definitely show up in the bibliography.

    For the citation field highlighting, do the new citations get highlighted in gray when you place the cursor in them?
  • sfredbeard
    When I deleted and tried to regenerate bib got this error message:

    The Zotero experienced an error updating your document.

    The operation couldn't be completed. (OSStatus error -1728.) @[setCode:field.m:592]e

    Then Fire Fox crashed.

    There are no gray Zotero fields to reveal citations with cursor placement.
  • sfredbeard
    OK tried a second time and it did generate bib. Does not show gray highlight on citations or bib
  • bwiernik
    Okay, so it sounds like everything is working fine, just that fields aren't being highlighted. That's a Word setting. Open Word preferences and search for "Field shading". Change it to either "Always" or "When selected".
  • sfredbeard
    Thank you bwiernik! Every thing is fully operational and completely restored. Much appreciated!
  • ikkenikki
    I get the same error code - 1728, after putting together my entire phd dissertation in 1 word file. Can't add or modify any sources. First it said the database was permanently closed. Then I restarted my computer, and I receive this error message. The fields are grey though, just unable to add or modify any of my sources.
  • bwiernik
    edited May 31, 2017
    @ikkenikki Your problem is different from the others in this thread. Please don't double post: [https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/7960/large-mac-document-error-1728#latest]
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