"Zotero quit unexpectedly" when trying to add bibliography using Word plugin on mac

arshiasobhan

I am using Word v. 16.43 (20110804) and Zotero 5.0.93 on macOS v. 10.15.6

When trying to Add Bibliography, Zotero crashes and I get the "Zotero quit unexpectedly" message.

I have tried using a new Word document stored locally and with different citation styles, but the same thing happens.

I can't provide you with a Report ID because when I reopen Zotero, in Report Errors, I get "No errors have been logged since Zotero started."

adomasven

Open the Terminal and run
/Applications/Zotero.app/Contents/MacOS/zotero -ZoteroDebugText

You will see Zotero start with debug logging in the console. Perform the operation that makes Zotero crash, go into the Terminal, copy final few screens of logged info and create a paste of it online somewhere, like pastebin.com

arshiasobhan

https://pastebin.com/iTVWjPUr

Hope this is what you asked for.

dstillman

zsh: segmentation fault /Applications/Zotero.app/Contents/MacOS/zotero -ZoteroDebugText

@arshiasobhan: Start by updating to macOS 10.15.7. If the problem persists, try reinstalling Zotero from the download page. (That's unlikely to fix anything, so we don't generally recommend that, but it can't hurt.)

Are you running any sort of third-party security on this computer?

Can we see a Report ID from Zotero?

arshiasobhan

I will try updating my macOS.

The only security software running is Sophos.

dstillman

Sophos could absolutely be interfering — there are many reports of that here. If possible, you should temporarily disable that and see if it still happens.

arshiasobhan

I have updated macOS to 10.15.7 and disabled Sophos, but the issue persists.
I have also reinstalled Zotero before.

here is the log again:
https://pastebin.com/b8Da84Gz

Also, this is a Report ID: 1750453049
But because Zotero completely crashes and quits, when I reopen there are no errors there.

dstillman

If you're planning to update to Big Sur anytime soon, that'd be one more thing to try.

There's not a lot else we can suggest here. I don't believe we've received any other reports like this, so this is almost certainly something specific to your system.

Disabling Sophos — if it's still installed — isn't necessarily conclusive. Security software can leave things running in the background even when disabled on the front end.

You can also try in another macOS user account, though there could be a system-wide service/application that's causing this.