Installation could not be completed because an error occurred. Please ensure that Microsoft Word is

I have Zotero installed on my computer, but I cannot get the Zotero tab to show up in Word. It keeps giving me the above error code whenever I try to install it. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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  • What exact version of Word? Can you provide a Report ID?
  • It is Word 2016. I did not get a report ID. It just tells me that Zotero can not be installed due to an error, and that I need to close Microsoft and try again. I have done this several times, restarted the computer, and nothing seems to work.
  • Oh, also I have gotten it to work on this computer before. It has been a couple of months since I have though. For whatever reason, the Zotero tab did not stick around in Word, and now it won''t let me do anything.
  • It sort of worked. I got a brand new Word document to connect to Zotero, but I have a current working document that I need to connect to Zotero, and its like it won't retroactively connect documents. I am not even sure how I got it to work, because the instructions here did not lead me to a very clear resolution. The error code is still popping up, and it seems like there is some sort of disconnect that I just can't seem to bypass.
  • I also uninstalled and reinstalled Zotero...
  • I am also pretty unclear about how to copy the Zotero file in the Word folder. It says something about "hold down Option, click Go menu, and click Library". I am not sure what any of that means. Because when I copy and paste that pathway into the Finder (I assume by "Finder" you mean the search bar for my computer) all it does is pull up the instruction page you sent me to on the Zotero troubleshooting page.
  • What do you mean by "it won't retroactively connect documents"?

    If you just start up Word and open a new document, do you see the Zotero toolbar? Can you insert a citation?

    (Finder is the name of the file manager on a Mac (and has been since the 1980s) — you can see it listed as the application name in the menu bar when you click on your desktop. This doesn't have anything to do with the search bar, which is Spotlight.)
  • I have already established documents that do not have the tool bar. But if I open a new document, it seems to sort of work? The icon isn't in the tool bar, but under "add-ins" I can seem to do get stuff done in there. The problem is, when I copied and pasted the document I need into a new Word document none of my revisions (that I am tracking) come with. I need to have those.

    OK, well, this is a PC, so I am not sure what's going on.
  • Alright. I screwed up and was using the Mac instructions which is why I didn't understand any of it.

    I went back and went through the whole process with the RIGHT instructions, and still nothing. When I copied and pasted that pathway (I copied the one from the bottom of that instruction page for Word) and it told me it could not find the file/folder.
  • I have literally tried everything in these instructions from the beginning to the end 3 times now, and nothing is working.
  • edited August 11, 2020
    The toolbar is installed globally in Word — it shouldn't have anything to do with what documents you have open. If it does, it's not installed properly.
    I went back and went through the whole process with the RIGHT instructions, and still nothing. When I copied and pasted that pathway (I copied the one from the bottom of that instruction page for Word) and it told me it could not find the file/folder.
    We'll need you to be more specific. Please say exactly what you're trying, in your own words and with the full paths (you can 'x' out your username), and say what happens at each step.
  • Instructions for "Zotero Toolbar doesn't Appear"
    I go through step 2, and it doesn't work, so I go onto step 3, or manual installation
    - I go to my C Drive
    -Open Program Files (x86)
    - Open Zotero file
    - Then opened extension\zoteroWinWordIntegration@zotero.org
    - There is no copy of zotero.dotm, only Chrome, components, defaults, install, resources (these are the folder names)
    - I move onto "download zotero.dotm, and it then opens up a Word document. The Zotero Toolbar is there when I open a NEW document, but when I open up the document that I need Zotero to work in, its not there. Only appears in a new document right after I download it. And after a period of time, it doesn't appear in new documents either.
  • I go through step 2, and it doesn't work
    Doesn't work how? You need to say what happens.
    - Then opened extension\zoteroWinWordIntegration@zotero.org
    - There is no copy of zotero.dotm, only Chrome, components, defaults, install, resources (these are the folder names)
    That's not the folder listed in the instructions. It's extension\zoteroWinWordIntegration@zotero.org\install.
    I move onto "download zotero.dotm, and it then opens up a Word document
    It says to download the file, not open it. Don't do anything the instructions don't say to do. The point is to copy the Zotero.dotm file into your Word startup folder.

    But you don't need to download it — you just need to look in the correct folder above.
  • - Step 2 I-V I follow all of these steps, and Zotero toolbar does not appear, so onto manual installation
    -once I go into extensions\zoteroWinWordIntegration@zotero.org\install I have 2 files. I right click both and select properties - still no idea which one is "zotero.dotm". There are several tabs here; which one am I needing to look at? From all the info here, I see nothing about a zotero.dotm file.
  • Step 2 I-V I follow all of these steps, and Zotero toolbar does not appear, so onto manual installation
    Right, but what happens when you click "Install Microsoft Word Add-in"? Does it say it was installed, or does it give you an error?
    I right click both and select properties - still no idea which one is "zotero.dotm".
    In the Properties window, under "Type of File", one will say "Microsoft Word 97-2003 Template (.dot)" and one will say "Microsoft Word Template (.dotm)".
  • It gives me the error code this discussion is titled as "installation could not be completed because an error occurred. Please ensure that Microsoft Word is closed and start over"

    - Identified the dotm
    - Word start up instructions: I did all of this: Click File tab in the Word ribbon and then click Options. In Word Options, click Advanced. Under General, click File Locations. The Startup folder should be listed there. Select it and click Modify. Placing the cursor in the location bar at the top of the window will allow you to copy the complete (C:\Programfiles(86x)\zotero\extension\zoteroWinWordIntegration@zotero.org\install) This was the whole pathway I copied and pasted into the location bar in the modify window. Then it gives me this error:

    "Modify Location Error: C:\Programfiles(86x)\zotero\extension\zoteroWinWordIntegration@zotero.org\install The folder name is not valid"
  • edited August 12, 2020
    Placing the cursor in the location bar at the top of the window will allow you to copy the complete (C:\Programfiles(86x)\zotero\extension\zoteroWinWordIntegration@zotero.org\install)
    That's an invalid path — you have a whole bunch of things wrong in it — but it also shouldn't be the Word Startup folder. That's (approximately) the "install" folder in the Zotero application files, but the only way that would be set as the Startup folder is if you set it that way yourself at some point, which no instructions say to do. That's why it's not working for you.

    You should set that back to the default location.
  • That's the path that was there though. Can you tell me what's wrong with it? I followed the instructions, and copied the path that it gave me.

    Ok...well, I followed the instructions and once I clicked "modify" I placed the cursor in the location bar. Then I pasted what I copied.

    I never set up any Startup folder, so I am not sure what you mean there.

    I guess I don't understand what I am doing wrong, since I have been following the instructions. I go line by line, and I am reporting back to you what is happening at each step.

    I will try the default location.
  • Can you tell me what's wrong with it?
    It's missing various spaces, it's missing various capitalization, it's missing an "s" in "extensions", and "86x" should be "x86". Maybe you just mistyped those things here rather than copying and pasting, but they're wrong.
    I never set up any Startup folder, so I am not sure what you mean there.
    As far as I know, the only way a path related to Zotero could end up in the Startup folder location would be if you set it to that from the File Locations pane. Maybe there's some other way it could happen — e.g., by trying to open the Zotero.dotm file directly — but certainly nothing suggested in the instructions.
  • I never typed anything though. I just copied and pasted it. I have no idea why there would be so many mistakes, but I assure you that I never typed in that pathway.

    So just go through the default location instructions? Because I tried that, and it told me that pathway was also incorrect. The only thing I typed in there was my user name.
  • OK, well, you had to have typed that path at some point. There's obviously no way for a valid file path to have all sorts of human mistakes in it like that.
    So just go through the default location instructions? Because I tried that, and it told me that pathway was also incorrect.
    I'm not sure what you mean by that. What exactly are you doing, step by step? Say every single thing you're seeing, typing, or clicking.
  • OK. Well, I never did typed any pathway in. I'll just go back and try it again.

    You left a link for "default location" to fix the Start up window thing. Is that what I should do?
  • Not to harp on this, but you understand that there's no way other than human intervention to end up with a path like that, right? And again, the only way for the Startup location to be set to the Zotero "install" folder at all is if you configured it that way. So at some point earlier in the process — probably days ago when you were first trying to get this to work — you likely typed in a manual path. It's fine not to understand the instructions, it's fine to forget doing something, but it's not fine to repeatedly say you didn't do something when it's the only way it could've happened. If you keep doing that, you're simply going to discourage people from trying to help you here, because we need to know that you're listening to and understanding what we're saying. This is something you did.
    You left a link for "default location" to fix the Start up window thing. Is that what I should do?
    You need to set the Startup folder to the default location listed in the instructions. If there's something you don't understand, quote it and explain what you don't understand. If something's not working, tell us every single thing you're seeing, typing, or clicking, and what's happening.
  • Sure. I get it. I did all of those things. That's fine. I just really need this to work.

    C:\Users\::username::\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word\Startup
    This is the pathway I need to set the default startup location, correct? where do I enter this?
  • You need to follow these instructions which specify how to check your startup folder and which will also work to change it to something else. You will need to replace ::username:: with your windows username in the path above.
  • I understand, but I've already done this process, and it isn't working.

    My start up folder does have Zotero in the pathway, and I am trying to reset to default location, which is the question I posted last. Where do I paste that pathway? Because when I go to the "Modify" in the "start up" folder, this is the pathway that shows up: C:\Program Files (x86)\Zotero
    When I paste this pathway with my username: C:\Users\::username::\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word\Startup
    it tells me it is not a valid folder.

    So I am just going in circles.
  • Are you leaving in the colons? You need to replace the whole "::username::" with your username. You should also be able to paste in "%AppData%" and press Enter to take you into the Roaming directory and navigate the rest of the way manually.
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