MS Word Plug-in ver. 3.0.a1 does not function

ScottM

I just installed the latest version of the Zotero plug-in for MS Word an I no longer get any response from the tool bar. I am unable to enter any citation or build a bibliography in Word using Zotero. My OS is Vista Business SP1 and I have Firefox 3.5.3 installed. I followed the instructions found at http://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_installation#microsoft_word1 when I installed the word processor plug-in. Please help... I'm working on a paper due day after tomorrow! Thanks

dstillman

Did you try the troubleshooting steps?

ScottM

I did, but no joy.

Simon

Does nothing happen when you press the buttons, or do you get an error message? In the latter case, can you give us an error report? In either case, do you have any other Firefox extensions installed?

ScottM

Nothing happens when I press the buttons and I do not receive any error message. The only other extensions I have installed in Firefox are "All in one Sidebar" and "Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant."

ScottM

I took a look at the Zotero.dot file and noticed it is completely blank. Is this a problem?

Simon

No. The template contains the buttons. If you see the buttons, the dot file is probably working.

Can you try closing Firefox, opening Word, and then typing the following into the search box in the start menu:

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -silent -ZoteroIntegrationAgent WinWord -ZoteroIntegrationCommand addCitation

or, if you have a 64-bit version of Windows:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -silent -ZoteroIntegrationAgent WinWord -ZoteroIntegrationCommand addCitation

If this works, try doing the same with Firefox already open.

ScottM

Thanks Simon, but still no joy. I closed FireFox and then pasted the string you provided into the Start menu search box. When I tried to enter a Zotero citation into Word, I received the following message: "Word could not communicate with Zotero. Please ensure Firefox is running and try again." Next I opened Firefox and again pasted the string into the search box. When I attempted to add a citation to my Word document, I receved no response.

I did peek at the Zotero.dot file again and saw the Zotero buttons. Actually there are two identical rows of buttons.

ScottM

I ran an error report anyway to see what might come up and received the following (Report ID #1141032698):

[JavaScript Error: "Translator with ID 8c1f42d5-02fa-437b-b2b2-73afc768eb07 already loaded from "Highwire 2.0.js"" {file: "file:///C:/Users/Scott/AppData/Roaming/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/y1rl92kz.default/zotero/translators/PNAS.js" line: 0}]

I'm not sure if it's related to my problem, but you never know...

Simon

ScottM, if running that command didn't bring up an add citation dialog box, then there's something weird going on with Firefox. The extensions you have aren't known to interfere with Zotero, but on the off chance that they might, can you try disabling them?

Edit: Also, you don't happen to use multiple profiles, do you?

ScottM

I disabled the extensions but received the same result: no response when I clicked the "add Zotero citation" or any other Zotero button.

Also, I have only one profile in FireFox.

If something is odd w/Firefox, do you think I should uninstall and reinstall FireFox and Zotero? A few days ago I noticed that several add-ins had spontaneously disappeared (with no action on my part) from Firefox, including Zotero. Perhaps this was due to a Firefox update? In any case I reinstalled Zotero 2 and it appears fully functional, execept for the problem with MSWord

Simon

You could try creating a new Firefox profile, reinstalling your extensions, and copying over your Zotero data directory from the old profile to the new profile.

ScottM

Simon, I am at wits' end. I followed your suggestion, created a new Firefox profile and copied over my Zotero data directory. The symptoms persist in Word: no functionality of Zotero buttons.

I next removed all traces of Firefox and Zotero from my computer and did a clean install of both (I did save my Zotero data in a different location!). Same problem. I haven't even reloaded my old Zotero data directory, and still the Zotero buttons do not work in Word. Do you have any other ideas? Zotero is a great resource and I want to continue using it!

I also checked the error report and have a somewhat different message now:

[JavaScript Error: "Overwriting translator with same filename 'JurPC.js' in Zotero.Schema.updateBundledFiles()" {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/schema.js" line: 381}]

I submitted this info as report#2128812961

Thanks for all your help!

Simon

Scott, that error should be unrelated to your Word-related issues. At this point, I'm about as puzzled as you are, but I'd really like to figure out what's going on here too.

1) What version of Word do you have?
2) Are you absolutely positive that typing the command I posted above into the Start menu and pressing return with Word open does nothing at all? A Set Document Preferences dialog box is supposed to open when you press return in the Start menu. If you're sure you don't see this, try removing "-silent" from the command, which should at least open a Firefox window. If it does, generate another error report and post it here.3) If you restart your computer in Safe Mode, do things work properly?

ScottM

Simon, Zotero seems to work properly in Safe Mode. Please see my responses below:

1) MS Word version is 2007 (12.0.6504.5000) SP2 MSO (12.0.6425.1000)
2)I am certain that I entered the command you posted properly and that nothing happens. No Set Document Preferecne dialog box appears, even when I drop the -silent notation.
3) When I startup in Safe Mode, the Zotero buttons function properly in MSWord. I am able to add citations!!

Simon

That gives us something to go on, at least.

1) Do you have any kind of security or antivirus software installed? If so, what happens if you (temporarily) disable it?
2) If disabling your security software doesn't work, what happens if you (again, temporarily) disable User Account Control?
3) Did you not even get a Firefox window without -silent there? If that's the case, try typing "cmd" into the box (should open a command-line window) and then typing the command in there. This might help me figure out what's going on even if one of the above two solutions do work.

Thanks for your help in tracking this down.

ScottM

Interesting developments...

I disabled all security software and was able to get the Zotero citation window to open in MSWord by pasting the command you provided (including -silent) into the search box of the start menu. However, when I started Firefox, this did not work, nor did the buttons work.

I then restarted the security software and had the same result. The Zotero citation command works when Firefox is closed, but does not work (nor do the buttons) when Firefox is open.

This is an improvement, as before no Zotero functions worked in MSWord, whether by command or button, whether Firefox was apparently running or not. I'm not sure what has changed in my computer to regain at least partial Zotero functionality in MSWord.

What should I do to ge the Zotero buttons working again? Again, thanks for your help and perseverance.

Simon

Disabling User Account Control is still worth a try. If it works, then this is a permissions issue, which there are a variety of ways to narrow down. If not, then I'll need to think some more about what might be happening here.

ScottM

I disabled User Account Control and the Zotero buttons worked fine. When I restored User Account Control, neither buttons nor command worked.

We are making progress!

Simon

It should be safe to temporarily disable UAC for the time being. It does make your system a little less secure, so you might only want to do this when you're using Zotero, but UAC didn't exist prior to Windows XP, so as long as you have up-to-date antivirus software, you should still be fine. However, we'd still like to know why UAC is blocking communication between Zotero and Word on your machine. The following steps will help you check for a mismatch between permissions for Word and Firefox:

1) Download Process Explorer from Microsoft's website. Allow the zip file to open in Windows Explorer. Once the download is complete, double-click "procexp" and click Run.
2) Open Word and Firefox. Locate and double-click firefox.exe within Process Explorer. Click the "Security" tab. Do the same for winword.exe.
3) Look for any differences between the two windows. In particular, both windows should say "Mandatory Label\Medium Mandatory Level" to the left of the Integrity flag.

Even if this doesn't reveal anything, it's possible that I might be able to work around the issue you're experiencing in the next release of the WinWord plug-in, but any information you can provide would be helpful.

ScottM

I ran Process Explorer on Word and FireFox. Under the security tab, Firefox had no entries at all in both the Groups box and the Privileges box. In addition, the Permissions button at lower right of the window was grayed out. Word, on the other hand, had several entries in both boxes, as well as an active permissions button.

I took a screen shot of both windows side-by-side. I can email this to you if you desire.

Simon

if you see nothing under the Security tab, then it seems like, for whatever reason, Firefox is running with higher privileges than a normal application. If you right-click procexp and click "Run as Administrator" to open it, you might be to see the security info for Firefox, and thus confirm this. I don't know why this would happen normally; potentially, it's a pretty big security issue.

If you locate Firefox under "All Programs" in your start menu and right click, then choose Properties and switch to the Compatibility tab, is "Run as administrator" checked? How about "Run this program in compatibility mode"?

ScottM

I adjusted the security settings for Firefox and now I have entries for it in both the Groups box and the Privileges boxes of Process Explorer. Comparing Word and Firefox now I see that both windows say "Mandatory Label\Medium Mandatory Level" to the left of the Integrity flag. All but one of the other entries in the Groups box are the same for both Firefox and Word. The only difference is BUILTIN\Administators, which indicates "Deny" for Word and "Owner" for Firefox. Word has five entires in the Privilege box, all indentical to Firefox, although Firefox has 19 more entries that do not show up in Word. I hope this info helps.

I am thinking of upgrading to MS Windows7. Would this help resolve the problem, or just add complication?

Simon

How did you adjust the security settings? Do the buttons work now? I'm not sure whether the BUILTIN\Administrators group should make a difference; it doesn't seem like it should.

If you're still experiencing problems after changing the Firefox security settings, upgrading to Windows 7 would probably not make much of a difference, but I think I can implement a workaround for the next version of the plug-in.

ScottM

To adjust the security settings for FireFox, I right-clicked on its icon, then clicked Properties at the bottom of the drop-down menu. When the Properties window opened I clicked the Security tab and adjusted the Permissions in my User account, which were all unchecked. The System and Admin accounts were already fully checked.

The changes I made to Firefox did not solve the problem: the Zotero buttons still do not work in Word.

Simon, Thanks again for sticking with me on this. We have recovered most of Zotero's functionality and I am VERY grateful for your help. I look forward to the next version of the plug-in. Please let me know if I can help in any way.

ScottM

After several months of using the workaround you suggested in your Sep 23rd post, it has stopped working. Now, I receive an error message whenever I enter the command:

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -silent -ZoteroIntegrationAgent WinWord -ZoteroIntegrationCommand addCitation

The error message reads: "Zotero experienced an error updating your document. integration[command] is not a function"

My Zotero buttons in MSWord only work properly when I disable User Account Control. Do you have any new suggestions? I installed WinWOrd Intergration 3.0a3, but the problem persists. Many thanks for your help.

ScottM

I just set up Firefox to "Run as administrator" in the Properties Compatibility tab. Now when I attempt to use the Zotero buttons in MS Word, I receive the following error message: "Microsoft Virtual Basic. Run-time error '5': Invalid procedure call or argument."

In addition, the command "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -silent -ZoteroIntegrationAgent WinWord -ZoteroIntegrationCommand addCitation still does not function.

I appreciate any help you might offer in addressing these problems.

Simon

Can you submit the report ID that you get when trying to call Zotero from the command line?

ScottM

Zotero does not seem to generate a report when I enter the command. When I enter the command in the command line, it appears that Firefox/Zotero tries to open but does not complete the operation. Subsequently, when I open Firefox/Zotero manually, the "Report Errors" line in the Actions dropdown menu is grayed out.

As an alternative, I removed "-silent" from the command, which did open the Firefox window, but still gave error message: "Zotero experienced an error updating your document." Again, the Report Errors line is grayed out.

Is there another way to generate an error report?

Simon

I'm not sure why you can't generate an error report here, but, in the absence of one, I think the first step is to try uninstalling and reinstalling the Zotero WinWord Integration Firefox extension. This error suggests that some part of the extension isn't loading properly.

ScottM

Will do. I uninstalled and reinstalled the Zotero WinWord extension last week, but nothing changed. I will give it another try, however.