Upgrade StorageEdit same .rdf file with multiple users breaks citation (?)
Dear all,
I am sorry in case I missed an existing discussion covering this issue when searching the forum for an answer.
I am working on a project together with a friend. My friend included all citations into the word documents. However, we were creating and editing the corresponding zotero library collaboratively by e-mailing the updated .rdf file to each other and importing it to zotero afterwards. As a result, there exist two versions of the same library: one which was created before / during inserting the citations into word, and another which was sent by e-mail to another person, and which was updated and expanded after inserting the citations into word by this second person.
(I am used to working with BibTeX and replacing the .bib file with an updated version does not cause any problems when compiling the citations, so I figured doing the same with Zotero is unproblematic as well as long as the file name remains unchanged.)
But unfortunately it looks as if this procedure broke the citations within the word documents somehow. There is no error message or anything when refreshing the citations via the word plugin, but the citations are not updated. Updating the citation style still works, so there seems to be some communication going on between Zotero and the Word Doc.
So here are my questions:
1) is it correct that this e-mail procedure will result in "damaged" citations?
2) if not, has anyone an idea why the citations are not updated then?
3) if yes:
3a) is there a way to link the word doc to the updated zotero library? Or have the citation IDs changed anyway?
3b) or is there any other way to somehow clear up this mess? Does my friend need to merge both versions of the library because he is the person who inserted the citations into word?
I think I do not really understand when and where some kind of ID is ascribed to something or someone (library, citation, library entry, PC user...) that needs to remain unchanged in order to not break the citations. But maybe I am on the completely wrong track here.
I hope this makes sense, I tried to be as clear as possible but I am aware that the situation is a little messy. Thank you in advance for your time!
I am sorry in case I missed an existing discussion covering this issue when searching the forum for an answer.
I am working on a project together with a friend. My friend included all citations into the word documents. However, we were creating and editing the corresponding zotero library collaboratively by e-mailing the updated .rdf file to each other and importing it to zotero afterwards. As a result, there exist two versions of the same library: one which was created before / during inserting the citations into word, and another which was sent by e-mail to another person, and which was updated and expanded after inserting the citations into word by this second person.
(I am used to working with BibTeX and replacing the .bib file with an updated version does not cause any problems when compiling the citations, so I figured doing the same with Zotero is unproblematic as well as long as the file name remains unchanged.)
But unfortunately it looks as if this procedure broke the citations within the word documents somehow. There is no error message or anything when refreshing the citations via the word plugin, but the citations are not updated. Updating the citation style still works, so there seems to be some communication going on between Zotero and the Word Doc.
So here are my questions:
1) is it correct that this e-mail procedure will result in "damaged" citations?
2) if not, has anyone an idea why the citations are not updated then?
3) if yes:
3a) is there a way to link the word doc to the updated zotero library? Or have the citation IDs changed anyway?
3b) or is there any other way to somehow clear up this mess? Does my friend need to merge both versions of the library because he is the person who inserted the citations into word?
I think I do not really understand when and where some kind of ID is ascribed to something or someone (library, citation, library entry, PC user...) that needs to remain unchanged in order to not break the citations. But maybe I am on the completely wrong track here.
I hope this makes sense, I tried to be as clear as possible but I am aware that the situation is a little messy. Thank you in advance for your time!
FWIW, the regular way to do this would be via a shared Zotero group, which avoids all of the problems you're seeing and also means you don't have to coordinate emailing & can edit the database at the same time (which in turn is one of the advantages over working collaboratively with a single .bib file).
Thank you very much for your helpful comment!
Of course you are right with the Zotero group solution, unfortunately we were not aware of this possibility until it was too late.
However, I think we can sort things out now.