Issues with Zotero plugin with LibreOffice Writer (Ubuntu 20.10)

thepezman

First off, I should say that because the Libreoffice program bundled with my OS had some issues (nothing to do with Zotero), I had to uninstall it. I reinstalled it from the snap repository (snapcraft.io/libreoffice) rather than the APT, because the latter would have required the installation of many specific packages, while snap only required the one. It's installed in /home/snap/libreoffice, and I don't think the auto-install for the Zotero plugin looks there.

So I tried using the manual process instead, installing from the .oxt file. However, when I tried to do this, I got a "Could not create Java implementation loader" error. Although the Zotero icons did appear afterwards, they didn't actually work when I click on them. Please let me know how we can fix this. Thank you.

dstillman

https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_troubleshooting#could_not_create_implementation_loader_or_clicking_toolbar_buttons_does_not_have_an_effect

thepezman

Thank you, but unfortunately I installed that package, restarted the computer and even reinstalled Libreoffice, and the problem persisted. (I have a screenshot if you need it.)

dstillman

The point is just that the error means there's a problem with the Java installation on your machine. That can vary by distro and package. You'll need a working Java installation in LibreOffice, at which point the Zotero extension will work.

thepezman

But I have one. When I go to Tools -> Options -> Advanced, I see the JVM installed in the Libreoffice directory in the snap folder.

And the extension install still doesn't work.

dstillman

You don’t, or the extension would be working. The extension is just a standard Java-based LO extension. This is a problem with LO and Java, not with the Zotero extension.

What exact version of LibreOffice and what exact Java version?

You can try deleting (or moving) the LO user directory, which can fix some weird problems, though I don’t remember if we’ve seen it cause this error.

thepezman

The Java version is OpenJDK 15, and LibreOffice is 7.0.0.2.

I tried installing several other LibreOffice extensions to test. Some installed without incident, while others generated the same error as the Zotero extension.

Where exactly is the user directory? I want to be very careful with manipulating LibreOffice folders.

dstillman

Start by upgrading to a current version of LibreOffice, either 7.0.3 or 6.4.7.

Where exactly is the user directory?

https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/UserProfile#Default_locations

thepezman

I solved this by redownloading LibreOffice from the APT repository through Discover (Kubuntu's graphical frontend), which did indeed upgrade my version to 7.0.3.1. As I suspected, the installation in the snap directory did not play well with the extension, for whatever reason.