Bibtex export: nodate and question marks

mhellmeier
I am using zotero on multiple devices with multiple operating systems to create a BibTeX export for my LaTeX project.

I don't know the date for some of my sources, so I leave the field blank. After exporting a .bib file on my windows machine, it creates a shortcode with nodate (for example: example_test_nodate). If a try to create an export on my linux (Ubuntu) machine from the same project, it creates a shortcode with questionsmarkt (for example: example_test_????).

This is a big problem for me, because I need to use \cite{} in LaTeX to create a reference. If I switch the machine from windows to linux or from linux to windows I need to change every "nodate" to "????" or every "????" to nodate in my LaTeX project. This is very annoying, so I hope to see a fix, soon.

Thanks a lot!

  • zuphilip
    The new format in the BibTeX translator is the one with "nodate". It seems that on your Ubuntu machine you don't have updated the translators for some time. Try to update them and probably activate automatic update of translators as well: Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> General -> Click on the "Update now" and activate the checkbox for "Automatically check for updated translators and styles".
  • mhellmeier
    Thanks a lot for your response, zuphilip!

    I updated the translator, but the "nodata" doesn't work (still getting "????"). The checkbox "Automatically check for updated translators and styles" was also checked before. Also a restart doen't solve the problem.

    I am using Zotero 5.0.47.
  • zuphilip
    Hm... Can you go to your Zotero data directory (Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Files and Folders -> Show Data Directory), then to the subdirectoy "translators", and open the BibTeX.js with any text editor. What value do you see for the lastUpdte time at line 22? It should start with 2018-03-03...

    If you have an older version of the translator file, then you can try to replace it with the newest version found here https://github.com/zotero/translators/blob/master/BibTeX.js (click on "raw" and download the js file). However, all the other updated translators will stay untouched for you this way...
  • mhellmeier
    I checked it out: My local file and the file on github are the same.

    After some testing I solved the problem by changing the export format from "BibLaTeX" to "BibTeX". I think I used "BibLaTeX" on Linux and "BibTeX" on windows (my fault).

    In other words: The "BibLaTex" creates question marks, the "BibTeX" creates nodate. Is this a bug or a feature? :-D

    I created a pull request to fix it in the BibLaTeX translator: https://github.com/zotero/translators/pull/1671
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