Upgrade StorageZotero Fields created in LibreOffice aren't surviving text edits in Word
I am having an issue with loss of citation fields when I send a specifc and large document generated in LibreOffice to my supervisors in .doc format. The revised document comes back to me, in .doc format, but I am unable to edit citations. The fields seem to have been corrupted even though the text still appears as normal.
I have replicated the problem by saving a sub-section of the original document (3 pages) from LibreOffice in .doc format, checking the citations are editable, sending it to a colleague who makes a small change (changes the font for one line) in MS Word, then having him send the revised version to back to me. When I open the revised version in LibreOffice, the Zotero citations cannot be edited. New citations can be still added using Zotero.
The problem does not occur if I do the same process but with a new document into which I insert one Zotero citation.
I am in the process of finalising a thesis so I really hope I can find a way of reliably sharing these documents without losing/corrupting the citation fields! Or at least recovering the editability of the citations with a minimum of fuss.
Note that I am:
- using APA 6th Edition as the style
- storing citations in the document
- storing citations as Bookmarks
- the problematic document does have a history of originating as an .odt file and being converted to doc before the procedures describe above - I trust this doesn't matter?
- the problematic document has a history of using Track Changes, but this has was turned off and changes accepted, long before the editability of the citations became a problem.
- the problematic document has numerous comments in it
- I can provide copies of the documents
Thanks in advance
I have replicated the problem by saving a sub-section of the original document (3 pages) from LibreOffice in .doc format, checking the citations are editable, sending it to a colleague who makes a small change (changes the font for one line) in MS Word, then having him send the revised version to back to me. When I open the revised version in LibreOffice, the Zotero citations cannot be edited. New citations can be still added using Zotero.
The problem does not occur if I do the same process but with a new document into which I insert one Zotero citation.
I am in the process of finalising a thesis so I really hope I can find a way of reliably sharing these documents without losing/corrupting the citation fields! Or at least recovering the editability of the citations with a minimum of fuss.
Note that I am:
- using APA 6th Edition as the style
- storing citations in the document
- storing citations as Bookmarks
- the problematic document does have a history of originating as an .odt file and being converted to doc before the procedures describe above - I trust this doesn't matter?
- the problematic document has a history of using Track Changes, but this has was turned off and changes accepted, long before the editability of the citations became a problem.
- the problematic document has numerous comments in it
- I can provide copies of the documents
Thanks in advance
What do you mean exactly by "the Zotero citations cannot be edited"? Are they completely inactive or do you get an error? If you regenerate the bibliography are the old citations still included?
If you cannot reproduce the error from a fresh document it would be great if you emailed a subsection of a document that produces this problem to support@zotero.org with a link to this thread.
As for solution it's tricky to suggest something without seeing the actual document, but copying the text into a fresh .doc file generated by LibreOffice is worth a shot.
--- I will definitely do this!! Thanks @AdoMasven for the generally thoughtful response.
> @adomasven: What do you mean exactly by "the Zotero citations cannot be edited"?
--- When the revised .doc file comes back, I open it with LibreOffice, and attempt to edit a citation; I get the message "You must insert a citation before performing this operation." I then check the document's Zotero settings and notice that the document has defaulted to using the ReferenceMarks format, though other settings are as before ("Citation Style" and "Store References"). I change the format to Bookmarks and try to edit the citation again; I get the message, "You must place the cursor in a Zotero citation to edit it."
> @adomasven: copying the text into a fresh .doc file generated by LibreOffice is worth a shot.
--- I've tried this, and all the relevant suggestions at https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_troubleshooting (see Debugging broken documents), including deleting sections of the document to isolate an offending citation. I did't detect a single offending citation; there may be multiple.
> @adomasven: If you managed to figure out the steps to reach such broken state from a fresh document - that would be excellent.
--- Like you, I can't reproduce from a fresh document, but if that changes, I will let you/the forums know.
> @LiborA: if I have this problem in MS Word than I rather use the function for comparations of two documents
--- Thanks @LiborA, I do use this method sometimes but with large documents in LibreOffice, this procedure is awkward and time-consuming, and its still easy to miss a citation or several.
First make a backup of the document. Then resolve all comments in the track changes. Afterwards convert the document to use ReferenceMarks. You should enable field shading in View -> Field Shading and make sure your active citations should be gray when you convert to ReferenceMarks. Save the file as .odt, then copy the contents into a new document. Convert zotero citations back into bookmarks - note that field shadings should disappear. Then save as .doc. Your citations should now survive edits in word.
What this essentially does is clears and refreshes document properties, which are not being recognised for your current document.