@eejd I haven't looked at the Zotero Connector's (internal) code, but your point is very convincing. I'm inclined to agree with your statement, "I think not addressing Safari on [macOS] ... is somewhat [shortsighted]."
AdBlock has one primary function — blocking ads — and Apple now provides a new way for them to do that. The Zotero Connector has more features, and some of those already didn't work in Safari due to the more limited extension framework. With Safari 12, even fewer things are possible, and it's not at all clear that a Safari App Extension would be substantially better than an updated bookmarklet that saves directly to Zotero. So expending a huge amount of effort — you're going to have to take our word on that — to produce something not that different from the bookmarklet for honestly very few users simply isn't a good use of time. We have many Mac users, but very few Safari connector users, both because not that many people use Safari to begin with and, presumably, because the Safari connector was already much more limited than the Chrome and Firefox connectors.
We understand this is frustrating, but that frustration should be more properly directed at Apple for removing all but the most basic extension functionality and asking developers to put in a huge amount of extra work that's not necessary with Chrome and Firefox just to use that basic functionality.
Future architectural changes to Zotero may make it easier for us to create a Safari App Extension, which would change the calculus here somewhat. But for now, we have a new bookmarklet coming soon that should restore the ability to save to a local Zotero, which is most of what the Safari connector provided before and most of what a hypothetical new version could do anyway.
In the meantime, you can use the current Zotero bookmarklet to save to your online library or switch to Chrome and Firefox before saving.
@cerebellum I can confirm that the method you posted works to re-enable Zotero connector, and dstillman is correct that it requires you to relaunch the extension through the developer Extension Builder if you quit Safari. Here is a link with the screenshots in English in case anyone was confused by prior set of directions: https://sixcolors.com/post/2018/09/give-new-life-to-old-extensions-in-safari-12/
@lenlira: There's no "fix" — Apple discontinued this type of extension and further limited their extension framework — but you can use the Zotero Bookmarklet if you want to keep using Safari. See our support page for more info.
"Safari 12 technically still supports these "legacy" extensions when installed from the Safari Extensions Gallery, which is accepting submissions through December 2018"
Why can't you submit the old version to the Extensions Gallery then?
And will the new bookmarklet be able to chose which folder to save to?
Technically, Safari 12 will continue to support the older form of extension when distributed through the Safari Extensions Gallery, but approvals can take months, and Apple won't be accepting new versions after December 2018. We don't want to put Safari users in a position where they're stuck running old versions of the extension that we're not able to update.
And will the new bookmarklet be able to chose which folder to save to?
We're still working on it, but we're hoping to bring that functionality to the bookmarklet, yes. Our goal is to make clicking the bookmarklet as similar as possible to clicking the save button in the old connector.
(It will likely also be almost identical to what we'd be able to do with the new, more-limited Safari App Extension framework, which is why we're saying a Safari App Extension isn't currently worth the effort.)
I would like to download the Safari browser extension to try out the solution to using it in Safari 12. But because I already have Safari 12, it is no longer available for download from Zotero. Can you please restore the possibility of downloading it for those of us who unknowingly updated.
When you fix the bookmarklet, can you please make it possible to save ANY webpage. It’s super-frustrating to get an error when you are on the run with your phone or iPad and just want to save a link to follow up later. This cannot be difficult to do. Please!
thanks to the community to look for a solution with Safari 12. As I am not coding literate, I think, that during this time I think I will change my workflow for literature research to Chrome web browser where I find in the Chrome Web Store a "Zotero Connector" and a "Juris-M Connector" both connecting to my Zotero Account ...
Help. I have been using Zotero until Safari 12. I attempted to follow the above instructions to continue using Zotero and it appears I have no extensions installed! This seems odd ... how is it that Zotero has been working beautifully for me?
I'm lost as to what to do now. I'm addicted to Zotero. Thoughts?
Any reason why you wouldn't just install & use Chrome, Chromium, or Firefox, all of which have working Zotero add-ons that are more powerful than the Safari one ever was?
> Any reason why you wouldn't just install & use Chrome, Chromium, or Firefox
I prefer to use safari because it is less battery intensive on my mac & also it automatically syncs passwords with all of my devices. Chrome is a resource hog.
Of course use the browser that you prefer, But, in my experience, Firefox is faster and less resource intensive than Safari. Firefox has a password manager, and there are also powerful apps like 1Password to store passwords and other secure data and sync across your devices.
I just upgraded Zotero with Annual fee to have more storage and found no possible for Safari extension. Seriously? Do I need to give up Zotero? Ah...is it possible to solve this issue? Who can tell me?
@Mingyi: You certainly don't have to give up Zotero. As explained in our support document, you can either use Firefox or Chrome for the best experience or use the bookmarklet in Safari for basic saving. We'll be releasing an improved version of the bookmarklet in a few days.
Note that, while we've produced an extension for Safari for many years, as far as I know all other competing tools have only ever had bookmarklets for Safari. So for now the experience of using Zotero in Safari will simply resemble what you'd have gotten all along with other tools, but not anything worse. And we're looking into ways of improving things for Safari users going forward.
@dstillman Thanks for reply. I have used Safari for many years, and wont use Firefox or Chrome as a browser. I tried to sync after I added a reference to the online library but I couldn't see the reference that I just added. Feeling confused. Do I need to go online each time to add references while i'm writing in Word?
The bookmarklet solution isn't working for me on Mojave and Safari 12. When I click it, it just takes me to a blank page with the javascript in the search bar. There is no progress bar and nothing is added to my library either online or locally.
Upgrade Storage
AdBlock has one primary function — blocking ads — and Apple now provides a new way for them to do that. The Zotero Connector has more features, and some of those already didn't work in Safari due to the more limited extension framework. With Safari 12, even fewer things are possible, and it's not at all clear that a Safari App Extension would be substantially better than an updated bookmarklet that saves directly to Zotero. So expending a huge amount of effort — you're going to have to take our word on that — to produce something not that different from the bookmarklet for honestly very few users simply isn't a good use of time. We have many Mac users, but very few Safari connector users, both because not that many people use Safari to begin with and, presumably, because the Safari connector was already much more limited than the Chrome and Firefox connectors.
We understand this is frustrating, but that frustration should be more properly directed at Apple for removing all but the most basic extension functionality and asking developers to put in a huge amount of extra work that's not necessary with Chrome and Firefox just to use that basic functionality.
Future architectural changes to Zotero may make it easier for us to create a Safari App Extension, which would change the calculus here somewhat. But for now, we have a new bookmarklet coming soon that should restore the ability to save to a local Zotero, which is most of what the Safari connector provided before and most of what a hypothetical new version could do anyway.
In the meantime, you can use the current Zotero bookmarklet to save to your online library or switch to Chrome and Firefox before saving.
Here is a link with the screenshots in English in case anyone was confused by prior set of directions: https://sixcolors.com/post/2018/09/give-new-life-to-old-extensions-in-safari-12/
Why can't you submit the old version to the Extensions Gallery then?
And will the new bookmarklet be able to chose which folder to save to?
(It will likely also be almost identical to what we'd be able to do with the new, more-limited Safari App Extension framework, which is why we're saying a Safari App Extension isn't currently worth the effort.)
As I am not coding literate, I think, that during this time I think I will change my workflow for literature research to Chrome web browser where I find in the Chrome Web Store a "Zotero Connector" and a "Juris-M Connector" both connecting to my Zotero Account ...
I'm lost as to what to do now. I'm addicted to Zotero. Thoughts?
I prefer to use safari because it is less battery intensive on my mac & also it automatically syncs passwords with all of my devices. Chrome is a resource hog.
Note that, while we've produced an extension for Safari for many years, as far as I know all other competing tools have only ever had bookmarklets for Safari. So for now the experience of using Zotero in Safari will simply resemble what you'd have gotten all along with other tools, but not anything worse. And we're looking into ways of improving things for Safari users going forward.
When you save an item with the bookmarklet, you should see a progress window saying that it's saving to zotero.org. Is that happening?
I've just tested installing the bookmarklet in Safari 12 and Mojave and it works for me.