Problem adding a citation: "An item in this document is missing from your Zotero library."

aniaiyaiyai

When I try to add a new citation using Zotero plugin in Libre Office Writer, I get an error message saying "this element does not exist in your Zotero database. Do you want to select a substitute element?".
If I click "yes" I can then select an element from a list, and it includes any new elements; but the new citation is added in wrong place. For example, it was supposed to be citation number 13, but Zotero jumps to citation 4 (which does exist in the database).

I updated Java Script (and restarted the computer after update) but got the same problem.


Error report:

[JavaScript Error: "uncaught exception: 2147500034" {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/integration.js" line: 239}]

[JavaScript Error: "An item in this document is missing from your Zotero library."]

[JavaScript Error: "An item in this document is missing from your Zotero library."]

version => 5.0.8, platform => Win32, oscpu => Windows NT 10.0; WOW64, locale => pl-PL, appName => Zotero, appVersion => 5.0.8, extensions => Zotero LibreOffice Integration (5.0.6.SA.5.0.8, extension), Zotero Word for Windows Integration (5.0.2.SA.5.0.8, extension), Shockwave Flash (26.0.0.137, plugin)


Report ID: 553934567

Gracile

Start here: https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_troubleshooting#debugging_broken_documents

aniaiyaiyai

Hi, I tried all the debugging options. It now seems to work with "old" entries, but does not see the entries I made yesterday (I added one book and one report, they do exist in Zotero library but the "Add / edit citation" thing doesn't see them).

I'm not getting any "missing item" message - just nothing happens.

Error report:

[unrelated errors removed — D.S.]

version => 5.0.8, platform => Win32, oscpu => Windows NT 10.0; WOW64, locale => pl-PL, appName => Zotero, appVersion => 5.0.8, extensions => Zotero LibreOffice Integration (5.0.6.SA.5.0.8, extension), Zotero Word for Windows Integration (5.0.2.SA.5.0.8, extension), Shockwave Flash (26.0.0.137, plugin)


ID: 273931133

aniaiyaiyai

Now I also tried to add bibliography, which I previously deleted as suggested. It also produced an error.

[unrelated errors removed — D.S.]

version => 5.0.8, platform => Win32, oscpu => Windows NT 10.0; WOW64, locale => pl-PL, appName => Zotero, appVersion => 5.0.8, extensions => Zotero LibreOffice Integration (5.0.6.SA.5.0.8, extension), Zotero Word for Windows Integration (5.0.2.SA.5.0.8, extension), Shockwave Flash (26.0.0.137, plugin)

ID: 1913713070

adomasven

The errors you posted above are not related to Word integration. Did the bibliography get inserted successfully? Did you get an error prompt? What did it say? What do you mean by the citation window "not seeing" your items?

aniaiyaiyai

"The errors you posted above are not related to Word integration. "

I have Libre Office Writer.

"Did the bibliography get inserted successfully?"

No.

" Did you get an error prompt? What did it say?"

It says "an error occured while updating your document". I'm translating from Polish so it may not be exactly the same in English - I need my citations to be in Polish so everything is set in this language.

" What do you mean by the citation window "not seeing" your items? "

Usually, when I click "add / edit citation" a popup appears, and I start typing the title or author of the citation I need, and a list shows up, from which I can choose the desired citation. But not the most recent ones - when I want to add a citation which I added to Zotero just recently, nothing happens.

adomasven

Do you get errors for bibliography inserts in a fresh document?

Can you find your newly added items in a fresh document? If not, can you find them if you click on the Z in the dialog and switch to the classic citation dialog?

aniaiyaiyai

It's even worse in a fresh document: it sees only two random citations :(
And the same error for bibliography.

When I opened Zotero now (which I need to have open together with Libre Office in order for it to work), there was a message asking if I accept Zotero Update to make changes on the computer, and I accepted.

Now in the document that I'm editing it will just find some citations, and some not - and in a fresh document it will find only two citations, one of which is a default "Zotero quick start guide".

aniaiyaiyai

"can you find them if you click on the Z in the dialog and switch to the classic citation dialog?"

In the classic dialog I see only these two random citations - one website and the "Zotero quick start guide".
In Zotero I have 59 elements now.

adomasven

Sounds like you have another instance of Zotero running. And Libreoffice is talking to it. If it is an on-campus computer, it is likely that a Zotero session from a different logged in user is interfering. A restart should help.

If it is your personal computer, make sure that you don't have an old version of Zotero 4.0 installed as an addon in Firefox.

aniaiyaiyai

Some progress!!!

I disabled both Firefox addons: Zotero and Zotero Libre Office Integration.

Now everything works in a fresh document - it added any citations and created a bibliography.

But in the old document it behaved strangely:

first, it recognized a citation which it didn't "see" before,
but when I added it, I got this error message that "the item doesn't exist".
However, it added a citation correctly; but then jumped to citation 4, and it was selected, as if this was the citation that Zotero has problem with - but it is also one of the only two citations which appeared previously, when Zotero didn't "see" anything else.
Could it be that this particular citation is doubled somewhere?
I *think* that I could add (or try to) add it using the Firefox plugin, as it is an article from the internet.


Error report:

[JavaScript Error: "uncaught exception: 2147500034" {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/integration.js" line: 239}]

[JavaScript Error: "An item in this document is missing from your Zotero library."]

[JavaScript Error: "An item in this document is missing from your Zotero library."]

version => 5.0.9, platform => Win32, oscpu => Windows NT 10.0; WOW64, locale => pl-PL, appName => Zotero, appVersion => 5.0.9, extensions => Zotero LibreOffice Integration (5.0.6.SA.5.0.9, extension), Zotero Word for Windows Integration (5.0.2.SA.5.0.9, extension), Shockwave Flash (26.0.0.137, plugin)

ID: 882767167

aniaiyaiyai

P.S. It is my personal computer and the only one where I'm using Zotero and editing the document in question.

adomasven

Right. You should uninstall Zotero and the LibreOffice extension from Firefox and download the Zotero Connector which is intended to be used with Zotero 5.0 instead.

Otherwise, you might want to run through the document troubleshooting instructions again, now that you have only one instance of Zotero running.

aniaiyaiyai

Thanks. It all seems to work now. I can go back to writing, no more excuses! ;-)