'Modify citation' - Zotero updates despite my clicking 'Yes'

JitkaVerdan

Hello, I needed to make changes in footnotes which were not possible to make directly in Zotero. When I wanted to add another citation via Zotero plugin, it started revising all changed footnotes and gave the following message:

"You have modified this citation since Zotero generated it. Do you want to keep your modifications and prevent future updates?

Clicking "Yes" will prevent Zotero from updating this citation if you add additional citations, switch styles, or modify the item to which it refers. Clicking "No" will erase your changes."

I want to keep my changes and prevent them from being updated. However, when I click YES the footnotes are still being changed to the original.

Effectively, clicking YES and NO generates the exact same results.

How to stop this from happening? The forced change to the original footnote makes revising my manuscript impossible.


Zotero version: 5.0.52
I tried on the original word document as well as a new copy created by copy pasting the original text but with no luck.

Thank you for your help.

JitkaVerdan

Could anyone help?
Need to finish revising a manuscript and this is making it impossible.

(For the record, I cannot just change the footnotes via Zotero since I need 'sig.' instead of 'p.' and I need to use a superscript in footnotes, which I assume Zotero cannot do.)

adamsmith

I don't know why this isn't working and @adomasven would have to take a look but as workarounds you have two options:
1. Do this with Zotero: you can get sig. simply by using a suffix instead of the locator (i.e. page etc.) field and you can get superscript in prefix/suffix using <sup></sup>

2. In a copy of the document, before finalizing it, Unlink citations and then make the changes you need to make.

JitkaVerdan

Thank you for getting in touch. I can change the formatting of my entries in the future.

Now I need to finish revising this document. 'Unlink citations' gives the following message: 'You must insert a citation before performing this operation.'

However, when I want to insert a new citation, it triggers the entire "You have modified this citation since Zotero generated it...' and whether I click YES or NO, it starts changing my modified citations in the entire 65,000 word document. So 'Unlink citations' does not seem to be an option.

adamsmith

'Unlink citations' gives the following message: 'You must insert a citation before performing this operation.'

That's quite bizarre. Have you tried some of the steps here?
https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_troubleshooting#debugging_broken_documents
in particular copying to a new document?

JitkaVerdan

Yes, I have done every single one of these steps now, including copying to a new document (as mentioned in my original post). No track changes, tried a different format but that does not help with this particular problem etc.

Even if I delete the entire document and only leave the first page, it forcibly modifies the citation there.

I have reported the error, ID 37976573. Could you please look into it? I am rather worries since I have been relying on Zotero my entire PhD and I now cannot do the final revisions because of this.

adamsmith

Which Word version is this in?

JitkaVerdan

16.14.1

JitkaVerdan

To follow up, I created another document* with the aim to 'Unlink citations'. After setting the citation style, I don't get 'You must insert a citation before performing this operation.' Instead, clicking on it brings up Zotero standalone to the front.

When I close the box, Zotero begins modifying all the citations without asking me!

I would really appreciate some advice fast. I have to submit a revised version after the weekend and I cannot do any revisions without having citations modified.



*I tried duplicating the original file as well as copying the text. I also removed bibliography in both cases. I am getting the same result.

dstillman

@adomasven should be able to tell you more, but have you 1) compared the behavior when clicking that button to a completely empty document and 2) tried copying a single citation into a new document rather than copying the entire text?

JitkaVerdan

1) It does not forcibly change modified citations in a new document.
(Clicking on 'unlink citations' triggers 'You must insert a citation before performing this operation.' But it may be because the document is empty. When I add citations and modify them, it triggers the YES/NO box but does not change the citation back if I click YES.

2) I tried and it makes no difference. Even if I copy a single citation that has been modified, the changes will be erased in spite of clicking YES.

@adomasven Can you please look into this? This is an urgent situation. Thank you.

dstillman

@JitkaVerdan: Adomas made some changes in the latest Zotero beta that should hopefully help. Can you install that and try again?

JitkaVerdan

Many thanks! Looks like reinstalling Zotero did the trick for me.

jhitchcock

I'm having the same problem. Even if I click "Yes" to keep my changes, my citations get edited. I really need to preserve my Zotero library. Is there a way to reinstall Zotero while doing this?

adamsmith

just installing the beta won't affect your library; you can just do that.

JitkaVerdan

@jhitchcock As said above, reinstalling Zotero does not delete your library. It solved the problem for me, though I still have no idea how the issue suddenly came up in the first place.

dstillman

Zotero 5.0.53, now available, should fix problems with citations being changed after clicking "Yes".