Upgrade StorageUnlinking Citations
I can’t seem to unlink citations using Zotero. It keeps giving me the error message, “you must insert a citation before performing this operation.” I have lots of citations already in my document. Zotero is open so that’s not the problem. I checked the document preference and it is correct. I am using the latest version of Zotero, and Windows 10.
I did a search for this topic but all I saw were posts regarding zotero unlinking citations. This is not what my problem is.
I did a search for this topic but all I saw were posts regarding zotero unlinking citations. This is not what my problem is.
This discussion has been closed.
I also tried the link you gave me. I copy/pasted it to show what I did step-by-step.
I have tried using the solutions below with no success.
If you've previously used one of Zotero's word processor plugins to insert citations into a document and later find that 1) the plugin says “You must insert a citation before performing this operation.”, 2) the bibliography doesn't contain all citations in the document, or 3) references in a numeric citation style start from 1 instead of from an appropriate higher number, the existing citations in the document may no longer be active fields.
the plugin says “You must insert a citation before performing this operation.”
You can confirm that fields in a document are no longer active by clicking them and looking for a gray highlight (Word/LibreOffice) or “Edit with Zotero” popup (Google Docs). In Word and LibreOffice, you can also try toggling field codes.
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I tried this hyperlink and it said, “this topic does not exist yet.”
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I am using Word 2016 and using alt-F9 didn’t work for me. It just took me to another page.
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Your citations may have become inactive for a few reasons:
1. You used the “Unlink Citations” button. This button will disconnect your document from Zotero and convert all citations and bibliographies to plain text.
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Yes, I used the unlink citations button. I wanted to unlink the citations, but it didn’t work, hence my post in this forum.
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2. You saved the document in an unsupported file type:
o When using Word, you need to save your document as .docx. If you save as .odt, active citations will be lost.
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I saved My Word 2016 document in .docx
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o When using LibreOffice, if you are storing citations as ReferenceMarks (the default), you must save your document as .odt. If storing citations as Bookmarks, you must save your document as .docx.
3. You (or someone else) opened and saved your document using an unsupported word processor or without following proper steps to move active citations between supported word processors:
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No, nobody saved the document in an unsupported word file, and none of the italicized information below applies to me.
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o Google Docs: If you want to open a Word or LibreOffice document in Google Docs, or vice versa, you must follow an extra step to transfer the document. Directly opening a Word or LibreOffice document in Google Docs, or vice versa, will break existing citations.
o Other online word processors: Most online word processors do not support Fields/ReferenceMarks/Bookmarks. Opening an existing document in these tools will break connections with Zotero. Microsoft's Word Online does support Fields and so can be used safely with Word documents containing Zotero fields, though a Zotero plugin is not currently available for Word Online.
o Pages: Apple Pages does not support Fields/ReferenceMarks/Bookmarks. Opening a document in Pages will break connections with Zotero.
o Word: If you open an .odt file (created by LibreOffice) in Word, Zotero references stored as ReferenceMarks (the default) will be broken. To share a document between Word and LibreOffice users, change the “Store Citations as:” option in the Zotero Document Preferences to Bookmarks. (Bookmarks can cause errors if accidentally modified, so they should only be used if compatibility between Word and LibreOffice is necessary. You can also choose to transfer the document instead.)
o LibreOffice: If you open a .docx or .doc file (created by Word) in LibreOffice, Zotero references stored as Fields (the default) will be broken. To share a document between Word and LibreOffice users, change the “Store Citations as:” option in the Zotero Document Preferences to Bookmarks. (Bookmarks can cause errors if accidentally modified, so they should only be used if compatibility between Word and LibreOffice is necessary. You can also choose to transfer the document instead.)
4. If you're using Google Docs, see Why isn’t Zotero detecting my existing Google Docs citations? for other possible reasons.
If you find that your citations have been flattened, your only options are to restore the document from a backup, re-insert the citations using the plugin, or manually edit the document's citations and bibliography going forward. If reinserting citations, it may help to adjust Word field settings to always highlight fields in gray rather than only doing so when they are selected.
If your bibliography is flattened but your citations are still active, you can simply insert a new bibliography by clicking Add/Edit Bibliography.
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No, my citations have not been flattened. No I do not have a bibliography in my book.
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Unlink Citations should flatten all the fields that are Zotero citations. That should normally work fine, but if your document was already corrupted somehow, it might have failed.
I previously typed ctrl-shift-9 in error. I tried ctrl-shift-F9 but nothing happened. I don't know what flattening fields is anyway, but I tried it to see if it would do any good.
I wish information on here was not so technical. I am not an expert software engineer. I am a non-expert with average computer literacy. It seems that the info is mainly cookie-cutter solutions and I have a feeling my issue is unique because the solutions don't seem to match what I am encountering.
Again, Unlink Citations is normally all you need to do. If it didn’t work for you, that means there’s a problem with your document, and that gets into Word troubleshooting, not Zotero troubleshooting. These are standard Word shortcut keys, not Zotero functions, and if they don’t work that’s a Word problem.
But it might help if you start by explaining what the actual problem is. In what way are the citations not unlinked? What makes you say that Unlink Citations didn’t work?
I tested Zotero by creating a new document and ceated a new footnote, then I tried to unlink it, and it looked like it was processing, but after it finished nothing happened and the footnote remained. I tried the unlink button again and then it gave me the same error message. According to Zotero there are no citations. This is very frustrating. I didn't save the file the first time, but then the second time I saved it as a 2016 Word file. Zotero gave me the same response, it pretended it was processing and when it stopped the footnote was still there. I think its definitely Zotero.
dstillman, have you tried creating a new document and putting a random footnote, then tried to unlink it? Can you please try it and let me know if it works for you? I'm assuming you have Word 2016, or better. I have the Home and Student 2016 version.
I thought it was the preference I am using. Chicago manual style 17 edition (full note), but I tried a different one and still not working. Its hard to believe that Word 2016 is corrupted, or has bugs that make it not fully compatible with Zotero.
Zotero does not provide a feature that completely removes all citations along with their text from your document (as that would defeat the purpose of having used Zotero in the first place).
What was it that you were trying to accomplish in the first place and why?
I don't know what you mean by field codes, but all I want to do is what I have accomplished before. I just want to get rid of all the footnotes, but sounds like you are saying that its not possible. So, either I'm not explaining what I want to do clearly enough for you to understand, or you just don't know what I am trying to do.
Zotero uses a Word feature called fields, which allows to store additional information "underneath" text. Zotero uses this information to format and reformat your citations when inserting and editing them, changing citation styles and others. Unlinking citations removes that hidden information - the field codes.
If you have a version of the document before you unlinked citations, you can go into Zotero Document Preferences and change the citation style from one that uses footnotes to one that does not, but in that case your citations in footnotes will be moved to appear in-text and will be reformatted for that citing style, which doesn't seem like what you want to do.
Footnotes themselves are a Word feature. You can insert them manually for your own notes and Zotero uses them for certain citation styles. Zotero does not and never had a feature that allowed you to remove all footnotes, or footnotes that contained Zotero citations, or anything that otherwise removed all Zotero citations in footnotes or in-text. It only ever had and still has a feature to unlink citations (which I explained above).
Furthermore, I don't think even Word comes with a default function that allows you to remove all footnotes, although I would guess you can find a Macro online that will do it for you.
Do you still have a version of the document before you unlinked citations? Do you have other non-Zotero footnotes in this document? Do you also want to remove them? Do you have Zotero citations not in footnotes? Why do you want to remove them?
Either way, I am sure there is a way to automatically remove all footnotes from a Word document, but it is not and never was a Zotero feature. You may also be able to make Word not display them without removing them completely, although if you print that document or send it to someone else after hiding them for yourself they may appear in print or for that other person.
If that's what you're looking to do, you will have to look for more general Word support.
(and you'll have to believe the people who literally wrote the software that this was never something Zotero did or could do)
You can claim that the Zotero plugin used to do this all you want, but you are wrong and more importantly it won't get anything accomplished, except for maybe annoy the people who are trying to help you. I have been the primary Zotero word plugin developer for the past 6 years so you should put some weight on my words.
"Remove all footnotes from Word" on Google returns a lot of results that explain how to do this, e.g. 4 Ways to Delete All Footnotes. If you're going to use one of these methods make sure you make a backup of your document first.