"This citation no longer exists in the Zotero database. Delete it?"

juneflame

I'm having an error on a large document I've been working on for about a year. My document and Zotero were working perfectly together last night, but this afternoon I seem to be running into a problem. Whenever I try to add a new citation to the document, I receive the following error message in a popup box:

"This citation no longer exists in the Zotero database. Delete it?"

I receive this message for every single citation in the document and this happens every time I try to change, add, or update a citation.

I've looked through the help files and it seems that while others have had this problem, it is related to upgrading their version of Zotero, reloading their database for some reason, or using the program to edit a document on multiple computers. I haven't done any of those things. I did change my password this morning, but I also updated the password in Zotero on my computer.

I'm running Microsoft Word 2007, Firefox 3.0.11, and Zotero 2.0b5. The 'Report Errors' option in the preferences menu of Zotero is not available. All of my files are showing up beautifully within Zotero. I've tried isolating specific problematic citations, but I receive the error whenever I try to update or change any citation within the document. It seems like a document wide issue. And I am able to create new documents and bibliographies with no issues. I greatly appreciate any help you can offer. This document is of critical importance to my career and I really hope to get things running smoothly.

dstillman

This shouldn't happen unless you're using a different Zotero library or exported and reimported your items.

If you don't mind uploading your database to the DB Repair Tool and sending the Upload ID and an excerpted page or two (with citations) from the document to support@zot....org, linking to this thread, we can take a look. You can ignore the download links the repair tool provides.

dstillman

OK, this should be fixed in the latest development build. It could cause citations in existing documents used with a never-synced 2.0b5 to be broken after syncing for the first time.

The fix will be included in the next release, which will probably be available sometime in the next couple weeks. If you can't wait, you can install the latest trunk XPI over 2.0b5. The current build should be relatively stable, but if you choose to install it I would recommend not installing further automatic updates of Zotero until 2.0b6 is available from this site, and then switching to that once it's available.

Thanks for alerting us to the problem.

Pow-Lee

Hi, i have the same problem as juneflame: since today everytime i will do something with zotero in my document i receive the following error message for every citation within the document: "This citation no longer exists in the Zotero database. Delete it?" the error-id is 359339089.
I have installed trunk XPI, as dan stillman has written above, but the problem is still the same. is there anything else i can try? I would be very thankful for any help!

dstillman

Pow-Lee: Can you follow the same steps I asked of juneflame in my first post above?

juneflame

Thanks for your help and thanks to all of the Zotero folks for this amazing software. I've used it for a few years with no prior issues and I've no doubt it has saved me hours of work and tedious formatting, not to mention the excellent organizational service it provides.

I ultimately had to move forward with my project, so I undertook the laborious task of converting the document to pdf, then converting it to rtf, and finally back to a Word doc. That removed all of the Zotero information, and I was able to re-enter the citations. It took hours fix the citations and formatting, but seems to work.

Now my fingers are crossed that this won't happen again.

dstillman

I undertook the laborious task of converting the document to pdf, then converting it to rtf, and finally back to a Word doc.

You can flatten all document fields with Select All and Ctrl-Shift-F9/Cmd-Shift-F9 or flatten just Zotero fields using the new Remove Field Codes option in the 2.0-compatible plugin.

masurr

Hi, I have the same problem like Juneflame, after syncing for the first time on the 2.0 beta version. After reading the wise piece of advice of Dan Stillman, I hesitate to use the trunk-thing, because of the following warning :

<citation ON>
Note that the dev XPIs will often not work with non-English localizations of Firefox, as strings added since the last release will not yet exist, resulting in XUL or JS errors. (We merge English strings into any localizations that are missing strings at release time.)
<citation OFF>

I currently use the French version, so I guess I juste have to wait the next betanearlystable version as annouced above. But it's frankly annonnying (I have to deliver my work in less than three weeks).

Nevertheless I look forward to ALL THE IMPROVEMENTS of Zotero. It's a very spectacular (and useful) tool :-)

dstillman

masurr: The current trunk XPI should work fine in non-English builds.

Greentea

I'm having the same problem as folks above, even though I am now using 2.0 B 6.3 which was to fix this bug. I was editing a file in word on my main computer and when I attempted to edit it on my second computer (synced to the data from the first -- I used Restore from Zotero server) as soon as I go to edit a citation I get the error:

"This citation no longer exists in the Zotero database. Delete it?"

I don't know if it is related, but although a message informed me that restore from Zotero server worked (and all my data shows up) if I bring my cursor to the sync Zotero button, the following message shows up:

"Unexpected status code 401 in Zotero.Sync.Storage.getStorageModificationTime()

Suggestions? Thanks

Greentea

An addendum to previous post -- Still having the problem mentioned in the post directly above, even though I have now gotten rid of the unexpected status code 401 problem (by changing my computer's clock time). So help still appreciated!

dstillman

Greentea: Can you send the original document (or an excerpt of it that demonstrates the problem) to support@zot....org, with a link to this thread?

janetcoup

I'm having this problem too. I was using one of the earlier versions a few weeks ago and this problem arose, and, following your previous advice, I used the repair trunk thing and it worked fine. When the 2b6 version became available I downloaded that and now I've got the "This citation no longer exists in the Zotero database" box back and it's driving me NUTS. I am also finding that when I insert a citation the cursor moves from the citation to another location a page or two up my document which is also driving me NUTS. I am using Windows XP and Word 2003.

dstillman

janetcoup: Same advice as above:

If you don't mind uploading your database to the DB Repair Tool and sending the Upload ID and an excerpted page or two (with citations) from the document to support@zot....org, linking to this thread, we can take a look. You can ignore the download links the repair tool provides.

dstillman

Janet: In your e-mail you wrote this:

I found that I have somehow 'lost' the copy of the database from my 'c' drive and only seemed to have it on my USB key. Would this be a part of my problem? I didn't have the USB key plugged in when I was doing my writing and citations yesterday.

I'm not totally clear on what you're saying, but if you're trying to use a document originally created with one Zotero database with another Zotero database that you created by using export/import, all citations would be missing from your database as far as the plugin was concerned. You'd have to use the recommended transfer method or use syncing in the Zotero 2.0 beta. Future versions of Zotero won't have this limitation.

If you're confused about where your Zotero data is, see the Zotero data page. If you have questions about your database unrelated to the Word plugin, start a new thread.

amybcooter

Hi,
I'm having a similar issue: I worked on a paper on my laptop (runs Office 2007) for a while yesterday, and once I returned to my desktop (which I had used for most of the paper and uses an older version of Office), Zotero gives me the same 'no longer exists...delete?' message. I did not add any references while on my laptop, and all the references show up in my Zotero window when Firefox is running. Is there a quicker fix than going through and re-doing every reference? The auto-sync option is enabled on both computers, and I haven't tried opening the paper again on the laptop to see if the problem is there now, too.

Thanks

dstillman

Amy: Send the document (or an excerpt of it that demonstrates the problem) to support@zot....org, with a link to this thread, and we'll take a look.

dstillman

Amy: Make sure you have the latest version of Zotero (2.0b6.5) and the latest Word plugin (2.0a2) on each machine, and then let us know if it still occurs.

delbiagg

Hi!
I have got the same problem, but no idea why, since I did not change nothing (besides adding groups in my library) in my two computers that I am using regularly...

As much as I remember I did not change any version of any software (word or zotero).

I uploaded my database and sent a copy of my word document to support@zot....org as suggested by Dan, hoping that I will solve the problem as soon as possible!

Thanks for any help.

dstillman

delbiagg: The document you sent does not appear to have been created with the database you provided (or that you've synced to the server). The same references exist in the database, but they have different internal identifiers and almost all have a Date Added date of August 20th, which suggests that they were all imported from a file then. (See my note above regarding export/import.) If you created this document on another computer, then that database hasn't been synced to the server.

delbiagg

Dear Dan,

thank you very much... I tried to find out what happened the 20th of August, and now I know... I went back to my office after some months abroad (where I put order in my zotero database!). I could not manage to syncronize my library, so me and my colleagues tried to solve this problem.
I deleted all the references on my database in my office and imported the database I saved on my stick. The references I had on my stick were a .rdf document (I did "export" on zotero in my computer at home and "import" in my computer at work).
Doing that, I could finally sincronize the two databases and now it's working... until the problem of "this citation no longer..." occured while opening for the first time a document with references with my computer at home!

Probably, as you suggested, the internal identifier got lost somewhere...

But... what should I do now to solve the problem?

And... what I did (export/import with a .rdf document) is not correct?

Thanks a lot.

dstillman

what I did (export/import with a .rdf document) is not correct?

Not if you're using the word processor plugins—see my note above. (For future reference, there are sync troubleshooting steps, or you can always post here for help.)

But... what should I do now to solve the problem?

Do you have a backup copy of your data directory from before August 20th? If so, you could export items created since then to Zotero RDF, restore from the pre–Aug. 20th copy, and then import the RDF file. You'd of course lose any links to those references in existing documents, but it sounds like you might have more from before August 20th.

If you do try this, you'd of course want to back up your existing data directories first.

If you don't have a backup from before you exported/imported, unfortunately you may need to re-link all the citations in your documents (or just flatten them (using the Zotero plugin's Remove Field Codes button), work on them the old-fashioned way, and start afresh with the plugin in new documents).

delbiagg

I think I have a copy before the 20th of August in Germany... I have to check.
It's anyway a .rdf copy... is that ok? Can I use this .rdf document somehow? If not, I guess I have to do it in the "old boring way".

I will try and if I have some more troubles, I will post my problem in the forum.

Anyway, thank you very much!

mullenkamp

"This shouldn't happen unless you're using a different Zotero library or exported and reimported your items."

I wish I knew this before I re-installed firefox...
Only now did I realize that I should have just backed up the enitre bibliography folder rather than simply exporting the citations.
Personally, I think that is quite a flaw in Zotero.