OpenOffice Macro?

matthauck

I just switched to 1.5 and I love the improvements. However, one thing in the OpenOffice plugin has left me wanting.

In the previous version, the plugin created some macros to perform their functionality, but now it seems that this is not the case anymore. I don't see it at all in any macro list.

This is inconvenient because I would like to set up a keyboard shortcut in openoffice to insert a citation, which I could do before but now cannot.

Help? Is there something I'm missing?

rytmisk

Me too! Had a shortcut assigned earlier (ctrl+b) - but seem unable to find anything to assign a shortcut to now.

Best regards
Ketil

sidies

I love the new version but this lack of a keyboard shortcut really makes a difference to me. Anyone come up with a solution?

phsamuel

Ditto. Just try Zotero as an alternative of endnote today and apparently without ways of assigning shortcut just seems unusable to me...

bdarcus

"Unusable" is a ridiculously over-the-top adjective to use here; don't you think?

I don't know the story behind this precise feature, but I do know it's been a major PITA for Zotero to be able to support both Word and OOo, across multiple platforms, as MS has done things like kill VBA support on the Mac. So a little patience is probably warranted.

phsamuel

It's not really over-the-top at all... note that I said it's unusable to "me"... I won't doubt many others can bear with it. But I saw many other similar complaints about CWYW functionalities for Zotero. I will just say maybe we are spoiled by Endnote. But I will guess it is not really so hard to implement for the great developers of Zotero.

Also note that Zotero 1 works well with OO. It is a regression actually. That's why we are a little bit frustrated.

bdarcus

It's not really over-the-top at all... note that I said it's unusable to "me"...

That qualifier doesn't make it any less over-the-top. It's at most a minor inconvenience; doesn't stop you from getting your work done, nor does it slow you down substantially.

I won't doubt many others can bear with it. But I saw many other similar complaints about CWYW functionalities for Zotero.I will just say maybe we are spoiled by Endnote.

Many people here are former frustrated Endote users who find Zotero not only cheaper (free), but superior. YMMV, of course, but the vague critiques and provocative language aren't likely to persuade people to take you seriously.

But I will guess it is not really so hard to implement for the great developers of Zotero.

I don't know how hard it is to implement. But ...

Did you read what I wrote? As I said, Zotero effectively had to completely rewrite their code base for this integration primarily because MS killed VBA support on the Mac. Does Endnote run on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, etc., AND offer full functionality with both Word and OOo?

In any case, I'll conclude by agreeing with the basic point that it would be nice if this could be resolved.

phsamuel

I don't want to argue. But I guess you didn't really read my message. Zotero 1.0 work fine with OO3 but not Zotero 2. So it is a regression supposed to fix. And I am talking about OO not word. Why there is anything to do with VBA?

pesho

The OOo/Word plugin for version 1 was written in VBA.
MS dropped VBA support for the MAC version of Word and as far as I know will drop soon the support for the Windows versions too. This made it impossible for the development team to support all word processors with the same plugin code.

The solution was to rewrite the plugin in Python. Besides the compatibility this also solved other serious problems, like the limited size of the reference list.

There are still some usability issues with the plugin, but I don't see any that will prevent you from using zotero or will significantly decrease your productivity.

phsamuel

Thanks. I see the VBA issue now. I thought the extension was written by OOo Basic. But hopefully the Zotero developers will try to add keyboard shortcut as an essential feature for future versions.

I guess maybe I'm one of the picky bunch. But actually I can bear more with the below complain than not having a shortcut key.

http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/1792/openoffice-plugin-put-cursor-in-search-field-automatically/

Please try to understand. Not able to cite without leaving hands off the keyboard is really unbearable for some of us. I think it is a major put off for any ex-endnote users. I won't say Endnote is a wonderful software (I definitely think otherwise, especially I think X1 to X2 is a major disappointment). But it does have some nice CWYW features. I am open to any workaround (like pressing alt-tab couple times) as long as I don't need to leave my hands for the mouse. Keyboard to mouse and mouse to keyboard will become a major annoyance after a short while for academic writers who need to insert reference repeatedly.

dstillman

We'll see what we can do.

phsamuel

Dan, thanks much!