Word plugin stops working

dstillman Zotero Team
This discussion was created from comments split from: Integration error in Word 2013.
  • dstark
    @Juanbro and @dstillman, I'm not sure if this is related or not, but I've been having an issue that sounds similar.

    Things will be humming along fine citing with Zotero in Word for Windows (10 and 11). But then, seemingly inexplicably, I won't be able to insert or edit existing citations. The Zotero toolbar remains visible in Word and looks like it normally does. But just nothing happens when I click to add or edit a citation.

    I can start adding and editing citations again by

    1) Closing Word,
    2) Reinstalling the word processor plugin, (so this part won't help if that option isn't visible)
    3) Restarting Zotero, and
    4) Reopening Word.

    Or—I've only just tried it, but—I also seem to be able to add and edit citations again if I go to the Trust Center and choose to enable all macros.

    I'm not sure if any of that's useful or not, but I'll plan to post back if I notice that the issue crops up again even with all macros enabled.
  • dstark
    @dstillman, sadly, the choice to enable all macros doesn't seem to stop the integration from breaking (with the latest Zotero beta and the latest version of Word for Microsoft 365). So, I'm back to doing the 4-step process I mentioned in my last post in order to start citing again.

    Combined with @Juanbro's comments above, does that suggest anything about next steps to try to resolve this issue (or these issues if they're actually different)?

    Thanks so much!
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    Moving this to a new thread, since I don't think it's related in any way.
    I can start adding and editing citations again by

    1) Closing Word,
    2) Reinstalling the word processor plugin, (so this part won't help if that option isn't visible)
    3) Restarting Zotero, and
    4) Reopening Word.
    The fix is almost certainly just restarting Zotero and Word. All reinstalling the plugin would do is copy the exact same .dotm file into your Startup folder — it shouldn't make any difference whatsoever unless something on your system was actually modifying or deleting the .dotm (which you can probably tell by looking at the file modification time and size). The former case would be malware, and the latter would be security software.

    But when this happens, you should also make sure that the citation dialog isn't just behind the main Zotero window.
  • dstark
    Just in case others come across this thread with something similar, I think I've finally stumbled across how I was running Word, Zotero, or sometimes both as an administrator, which I see is a no-no. Since I've been making sure that isn't happening, things have been back to running swimmingly as usual.
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