Shading for libre office bookmarks to show zotero citations when saving at docx?

MavropaliasG
edited March 19, 2020
Hi, thank you for the amazing software.

If I understand correctly, in order to use zotero in libre office in linux, but be able to save in docx so that someone in windows using MS Word can see the references as field, I must save the refrences as bookmarks.

Even though LibreOffice Writer has the option to apply field shadings, it does not do the same for bookmarks, so it is difficult to distinguish citations in text. Is there any solution to that?

Moreover, I used to be able to simply copy and paste Zotero citations in MS Word to other parts of the text. However I noticed that in linux with LO Writer saving in docx and storing references either as bookmarks or ReferenceMarks I cant. Is this correct?

Thank you.
  • adomasven
    Even though LibreOffice Writer has the option to apply field shadings, it does not do the same for bookmarks, so it is difficult to distinguish citations in text. Is there any solution to that?
    No, there's no shading for Bookmarks in LibreOffice, which also unfortunately makes it much easier to accidentally corrupt/edit citations in-text.
    Moreover, I used to be able to simply copy and paste Zotero citations in MS Word to other parts of the text. However I noticed that in linux with LO Writer saving in docx and storing references either as bookmarks or ReferenceMarks I cant. Is this correct?
    That is also a limitation of LibreOffice. You can cut and paste citations, but not make duplicates (copy-paste).
  • MavropaliasG
    edited March 19, 2020
    Thank you for the answer. That's really unfortunate, one would think that Zotero would have the best support for LO as it is open source. I wonder if I go and file those as bugs in libre office if it will help?

    Can the second be fixed by using fields? I just checked in my document, if I make a cross-reference for a table (e.g. Table 1) I can successfully copy and paste it in text. I think that's how Zotero fields work in MS Words, but why not in LO Writer?
  • adomasven
    Thank you for the answer. That's really unfortunate, one would think that Zotero would have the best support for LO as it is open source. I wonder if I go and file those as bugs in libre office if it will help?
    I believe there is a bug filed for ReferenceMark copying somewhere. Not sure about bookmark shading, but it couldn't hurt.
    Can the second be fixed by using fields? I just checked in my document, if I make a cross-reference for a table (e.g. Table 1) I can successfully copy and paste it in text. I think that's how Zotero fields work in MS Words, but why not in LO Writer?
    LibreOffice Fields are not editable in-text which is a requirement for Zotero citations, so we cannot use them. There is partial support for Word fields in LibreOffice, but there has not been any updates on that front in a while and the support isn't good enough for us to be able to use it. Either way changing the storage format for citations in docs is a fairly big undertaking and wouldn't be done unless absolutely necessary or would provide a more substantial benefit than just allowing easier duplication.
  • MavropaliasG
    hi @adomasven thank you very much for the information

    I have filled a bug report here, could you please watch this and contribute any information that they might need?

    https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=131436

    I've already bought Zotero storage, but I'll be happy to donate to Zotero to help you support LO Writer further. Please feel free to contact me.

    I am sick of MS Word, having to boot up a VM on my linux laptop every time I need to write (and I do a lot of writing as an academic), and Zotero is fantastic, so I was ready to switch to LO Writer, but I got really dissapointed and surprised seing that Zotero is not functioning as well in LO Writer compared to MS Word.

    Thank you
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