Zotero running, no functionality in word 2016 - Report ID 603857874

jennifer.villwock

Hello. Been trying to fix an issue with zotero for past few hours to no avail.

Computer recently re-imaged by IT. Prior to this was running on Windows 7, no issues with Zotero and Word 2016. Reinstalled Zotero 5.0, stand-alone, and Word plug ins all enabled in the standalone preferences. When I open Word, I can see the red "Z" icon in the menu but there is no functionality. I can click it and then "Add/edit citation," "insert bibliography," etc, but nothing happens. I have installed, uninstalled, reinstalled, tried to chrome running in background, restarted computer, etc. Tried again with Mozilla running. Nothing. Have tried all the trouble shooting suggestions on the website.

The only thing that I am not able to meddle that others seemed to try and have varying levels of success with is changing the "Trust Center" settings of Word. Under Macro settings, the "disable all macros except digitally signed macros" is selected. I cannot change this (it's a University computer - suspect they have built in this as the default). Could this be the issue? If so, I will consult with IT. Open to any other thoughts or suggestions!

adamsmith

In the "Developer" tab of Word under "Macros" -- do you see the Zotero functions listed? If so, what happens when you select and run them there?
(and I'm pretty sure Zotero should be signed, so that shouldn't be it)

jennifer.villwock

I see all the zotero functions, but when I click on them, I get the following error message:

"The macros in this project are disabled. Please refer to the online help of documentation of the host application to determine how to enable macros."

Under add-ins in Word 2016, zotero.dotm is an item that is "currently loaded."

In the standalone, the Word integration (for both office and libre) is enabled.

adamsmith

Yeah, so that's definitely the macro security interfering. If you could get IT to change this to "Disable all macros with notification" (the default Word setting) that would likely help.

I think I misremembered the digitally signed bit -- I don't think the Zotero macros are signed currently, but would be good for @adomasven to confirm.

adomasven

In updated versions of Word 2016 with Add-in macros should work even with "disable all macros except digitally signed macros" as long as in the Trust Centre, under Add-ins "Require Application add-ins to be signed by Trusted Publisher" and "Disable all Application Add-ins" are unchecked (which they are by default).

jennifer.villwock

The "Disable all macros except digitally signed macros" is what is checked. Any other ideas?

adomasven

Check the Add-ins tab in the Trust Centre, as outlined above. Are "Require Application add-ins to be signed by Trusted Publisher" or "Disable all Application Add-ins" checked?

jennifer.villwock

I am talking with my IT folks. They are requesting the "code signing certificate" for Zotero. They believe the newest security upgrades for our system are blocking the macros from running. If they have a code signing certificate, they can upload to our system to hopefully resolve the issue and make sure no other University/Health System folks have the same issue.

The only thing that is checked in the macros is the "disable all macros except digitally signed macros."

adomasven

Zotero extension code is not signed. Once again, please go into the Word Trust Centre and select the "Add-ins" tab on the left pane, where there are additional preferences that control Add-in macros

dstillman

The latest beta includes a signed version of the Word plugin. Feel free to install the beta over your current version and let us know if it solves things for you. (You can reinstall the release version at any time.) If there are no problems, this should be included in Zotero 5.0.34 soon.

dstillman

Zotero 5.0.34 is out now with the signed plugin.

crschwartz77

We are having a similar issue. We installed the newest version today, and it's still not working. Our security team will not disable the GPO to allow us to uncheck the option. Any other suggestions?

dstillman

@crschwartz77: Which option are you referring to? As I say, the latest version of the plugin is signed. But it's possible your IT department doesn't allow you to install any macros, even those that are signed, in which case you'd have to talk to them.

First, though, while it should be automatic, make sure you have the latest version of the plugin in Word by clicking "Reinstall Microsoft Word Add-in" from the Cite -> Word Processors pane of the Zotero preferences.

Jiri Hajek

I am curerently facing the same problem as described above, Zotero tools are not displayed and cannot be run even manually from the list of macros. The only solution that works for me so far is to enable all macros, which is something I would like to avoid, if possible...

(Just for completeness, the options for add-ins "Require Application add-ins to be signed by Trusted Publisher" or "Disable all Application Add-ins" are unchecked. I'm using Zotero standalone (latest version) and also the latest Word plugin. My MS version is Professional Plus 2016.)

Advice would be greatly appreciated.