VBA SendKeys to remotely control Zotero

NoNameNeeded
I know this isn't a VBA forum but I'm trying to remotely control Zotero's standalone application and I'm trying to get to the "Create Citation/Bibliography" dialog box but since there is no way to invoke this box in a normal menu I need to invoke the right click menu (context menu) which I'm able to do but then there is no way to get to the "Create bibliography from item..." entry so no way to invoke this dialog box.

Yes, I know there is already a word add-in but that doesn't work in Word 97 (which is old, I know) but if I could only get to this "Create Citation/Bibliography" dialog box with SendKeys in VBA that would be very helpful.
Is there any shortcut that will directly invoke this dialog box and if there isn't, wouldn't it be kind of useful if there was one? I mean, in general?


  • dstillman
    Any reason you're not using Quick Copy?
  • NoNameNeeded
    Yes.
    It doesn't work.

    While it DOES actually copy the stuff to Word the formatting is lost, so italic words are no longer italic etc.
    I would of course use that if it worked but sadly it doesn't.

  • dstillman
    edited January 24, 2018
    Do you mean that you're using the RTF option in the Create Bibliography window? Because the clipboard option there should be identical to Quick Copy (at least the keyboard-based mode, but probably the drag-and-drop mode as well). Quick Copy works fine with formatted text in general, but if you really mean Word 97 then of course all bets are off. The RTF option works differently.
  • NoNameNeeded
    Yes, I mean the RTF option.
    What works is to save the stuff in a rtf file and then insert this file in Word (which actually only inserts its contents).
    Copying it to the clipboard and trying to import it as RTF in Word doesn't work, because Word thinks there is no RTF content in the clipboard...
    I can only paste it normally but then the formatting is lost.

    The strange thing however is that Word CAN actually import RTF-formatted texts and they are correctly displayed. So for example if I drag and drop a formatted text from Word Pad to Word the formatting stays intact.

    So for some reason Zotero doesn't produce RTF-content (at least none that Word 97 can understand) even though it does when you really export it in a rtf file.
  • dstillman
    Yeah, modern applications tend to use HTML for rich-text clipboard content, and we do the same. It's possible we could send RTF to the clipboard, but HTML works with word processors since then, so it's never been an issue. (Word 97 was 10 years old when Zotero debuted.)

    Given that Quick Copy and the word processor plugin both work with all modern word processors, I don't think a default keyboard shortcut for the Create Bibliography window is really necessary, but you could assign one with Zutilo. Not sure if there's a built-in command for it but the relevant code would be Zotero_File_Interface.bibliographyFromItems().
  • NoNameNeeded
    Ok, I've just downloaded Zutilo and installed it as an addon but I really don't know what to do next.
    There is a shortcut tab in the preferences dialog box but the entry I wanted isn't there (as you said) so where would I have to enter that code?

  • NoNameNeeded
    edited January 25, 2018
    Well, I've found a workaround now but actually there are a few word processors (mostly free ones as it seems) which support neither the add in nor quickcopy like AbiWord, AbleWord, Softmaker Textmaker, Jarte, just to name a few.

  • NoNameNeeded
    Would it be possible to replicate the "Create bibliography from item" entry from the context menu to the edit menu?

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