runtime error in Word 2004

dalziel_86

My system:

OS X 10.4.9
Zotero 1.0.0b4.r2.r1365
Word plugin 1.0a2 Mac

Error:
When trying to insert a citation, the {Citation} field appears, and I receive the following message:

Run-time error '5':

Invalid procedure call or argument

Hitting End results in the {Citation} field remaining, but nothing else happens.

dalziel_86

I've managed to fix the problem.

The Firefox profile on which Zotero was installed was on my Windows Boot Camp partition. The profile was shared between Windows and OS X Firefox installs. I edited the profiles.ini file of the OS X install to point to the profile on the Boot Camp partition.

Despite the editing of the profiles.ini file, the Zotero Word plugin seems not to have found the profile.

I have since moved the Firefox profile to the normal location on the OS X partition (%user%/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/) and edited the profiles.ini file again to point to it. The Zotero Word plugin now seems to find the Zotero install.

Does the Word plugin check the Firefox profiles.ini to find the location of the Zotero install? It seems like it should, but if it did, it should have found the profile with Zotero in the original location, shouldn't it?

dalziel_86

Apparently this didn't fix the problem.

However, it seems like I have now fixed the problem by copying and pasting the whole document into a new document.

The document I was working on was originally created in Word 2007 (saved as a Word 97-03 .doc file, however) on a Windows machine. In transferring the file to Word 2004 on an OS X machine, as well as moving the Firefox profile within which Zotero was installed, the document seems to have become confused about the Zotero library the citations come from.

Pasting the entirety of the old document into a new document seems to have fixed the problem. It's worth noting that a bibliography generated in the new document includes all the citations from the old document, so it seems once the library is rediscovered, the plugin is able to recognise the citations.

Is it possible to clean up the way Zotero's Word integration migrates between platforms? Perhaps add a way for the user to locate the library again?

Roy

I'm having this same problem with Windows XP and Word 2003. When I save a document and reopen it later I get the same error message described in the first comment above. I've tried reinstalling Zotero and the integration file and it's still happening. Copying the whole document and pasting it into a new one did the trick, though.

moswell

I"m using the same version of Zotero with WinXP and Word 2003, and I'm getting the same error. However, copying and pasting into a new document did not work. Are the developers working on this one?

moswell

Just wanted to make sure this was acknowledged as a bug. It's not listed in the "known issues."

mccaskey

moswell: "Run-time error '5': Invalid procedure call or argument" is a very generic Word VB error. It's not clear that your problem is related to the others here. I suspect you'll need to post more details before the developers know what to do about what you've seen.

moswell

Right, well I didn't rewrite the problem because other than the fact that I'm using Word 2003, the process and error is the same. The first time I created a document in word and imported footnotes from Zotero it worked well. When I reopened the document and tried to add new footnotes from Zotero, I got the "Microsoft Visual Basic: run time error 5 invalid procedure call or argument" pop up window. Plus instead of inserting a footnote (which it should have done since I have my preferences set to Chicago footnotes without bibliography) it adds the {Citation} field and nothing else happens.

I tried what was mentioned above - copying the document and pasting into a new document. When I try to add a footnote there it starts to work (gives me the choice of style, brings up the zotero bibliography, let's me choose a source), but then inserts the {Citation} field and gives the following error message: An error occurred communicating with Zotero. Please ensure Firefox is open and try again.

Is there some more information I can provide for the developers to help figure out what's causing this?

moswell

bump in case someone else is having this problem or has a solution!

rooster1

Definitely having all the same problems as moswell. Communication error; Microsoft Visual Basic runtime error; precisely the same.

manavg

Yeah that just doesn't work. And I'm unable to edit the word template on my laptop at least - so not sure if there's a password required to make any changes, but this is problem has been outstanding for a while now

dstillman

And I'm unable to edit the word template on my laptop at least - so not sure if there's a password required to make any changes

There is no password. The template is editable using the VB editor in Word. But there's very little point in editing the released template, as that alpha code is quite obsolete. See my response on another thread.