No. Office Online lacks the sort of plugin framework that allows Zotero to connect with it. Office Online also doesn't support creating or editing 'Fields', which is the Word feature that Zotero actually uses to insert and store citation data (Word itself also uses this feature for things like inserting figure captures, cross-references, and tables of contents). You can open and edit a document with Zotero fields in Word Online (but be certain that you DO NOT export the file as ODT, which will lose the fields). You won't be able to insert or edit Zotero fields (I would also avoid typing in the citation fields or copying/cutting and pasting them—I'm not sure if this will work or break the citations).
@adamsmith It does appear that Word Online/Dropbox no longer break fields, which is good news.
Hi @bwiernik, does this mean you can create documents in Word and upload it to Word Online and the citations won't be broken, but you can't create a manuscript in Word Online from scratch using Zotero as reference manager? If I misunderstood, please will you correct me? Thanks! Anelda
Word Online doesn’t have the extension system Zotero uses to connect with Word. So you can’t add new Zotero citations or edit existing ones while using Word Online. But existing citations won’t be harmed by editing a document in Word Online.
This may be 3 years too late for this this threat, but what you're saying is not accurate, @bwiernik. If you can use a Mendeley add-in on Word Online, then why not Zotero?
I think it's high-time Zotero looked into developing a Word Online add-in of their own. I do prefer Zotero, but since my office 365 subscription ran out, World Online is all I got. So I've had to move to Mendeley instead.
It certainly is possible and has been for a while, but would require writing an addon from scratch. None of the code we use for PC Word is compatible and unfortunately we do not have the development resources right now to prioritize this. Zotero does work with LibreOffice or Google Docs, but if you're stuck with Word Online then Zotero will be unavailable for you there for the intermediate future.
Just wondering if there was any update on this situation or is it still impossible to integrate Zotero and Word Online?
Is there any online version of Word that works with Zotero? (Sorry if this is a dumb question - I've been using Google Docs happily, but my uni requires Word submissions which is a royal pain as exports don't work well on my Macbook.)
Zotero only works with the desktop installed versions of Word. Note that Word 2016 and later do support live simultaneous editing by multiple people in the same way as Word Online and Google Docs.
Adding my voice to the choir hoping for Word Online integration! My University is moving in that direction, and save for a Zotero connector I'm pretty happy with it.
Once you are in the Desktop App you can install Word Plugins. My home computer doesn't have Office installed but I can access and edit all of my Word files via OneDrive and use the Zotero plugin in the Desktop App. I think you do need an Office 365 account. My school migrated to Office 365 a couple of years ago and this solution means I can still use Zotero, Mathtype, and Grammarly on the desktop app for Word whether I am at my school computer or home computer. All are Windows 10 systems.
Upgrade Storage
@adamsmith It does appear that Word Online/Dropbox no longer break fields, which is good news.
Thanks!
Anelda
I think it's high-time Zotero looked into developing a Word Online add-in of their own. I do prefer Zotero, but since my office 365 subscription ran out, World Online is all I got. So I've had to move to Mendeley instead.
Hope you guys consider this soon.
Is there any online version of Word that works with Zotero? (Sorry if this is a dumb question - I've been using Google Docs happily, but my uni requires Word submissions which is a royal pain as exports don't work well on my Macbook.)
Thanks.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/download-and-install-or-reinstall-microsoft-365-or-office-2019-on-a-pc-or-mac-4414eaaf-0478-48be-9c42-23adc4716658
Once you are in the Desktop App you can install Word Plugins. My home computer doesn't have Office installed but I can access and edit all of my Word files via OneDrive and use the Zotero plugin in the Desktop App. I think you do need an Office 365 account. My school migrated to Office 365 a couple of years ago and this solution means I can still use Zotero, Mathtype, and Grammarly on the desktop app for Word whether I am at my school computer or home computer. All are Windows 10 systems.
Is the new Zotero V7 enabling this?
I've seen there are other newer questions related to this:
- https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/72263/how-to-use-zotero-with-word-online-onedrive
- https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/99153/connecting-zotero-online-with-word-online
- https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/75988/does-zotero-work-with-the-online-version-of-word-in-office-365