Workaround Bibliography does not follow section columns (inserts full page width section)

ChristianR · February 24, 2020

I'm using a two column paper ODT template in LibreOffice Writer and when using “Add/Edit Bibliography” a full page width new format style "Bibliography 1" and new section is inserted:

ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY RND...

I'm not able to move/bring the bibliography into the two column page layout TextSection (before) where all the document content beside title and author should be.
I only found a github issues thread about this issue and hope a workaround might be possible by an experienced user of LibreOffice Writer + Zotero.

adomasven · February 25, 2020

Your best bet is to work with the bibliography the way it is now and when you finish with the document before submission to unlink the citation from the Zotero plugin and then move the bibliography into the two-column layout. Due to technical reasons making the active bibliography conform to multi-column layouts is very difficult if impossible and there are no plans to look for a fix for this in the near future.

ChristianR · February 26, 2020

@adomasven thanks for the best bet (unlinking before submission) and clarification about a fix not being planned caused by technical reasons and difficulty of multi-column layouts.
The only remaining question is if this is only so in LibreOffice Writer or Microsoft Word is affected in the same way?

bwiernik · February 26, 2020

Multi-column layouts work fine in Microsoft Word.

ChristianR · February 27, 2020

@bwiernik thanks for the clarification regarding Microsoft Word. A little disappointing that LibreOffice Writer does not allow the same Multi-column layout compatibility for the Bibliography. However I will most likely stick to Writer.