problems with citations

n1kkystyx
I have had these problems: when I want to add a second source to a citation, I click on the citation and hit "edit citation" then zotero tells me that I need to click on a citation.
also, I have some citations that never seemed to get to the point of being numbered or placed in my bibliography. There is instead a {Citation} where there should be a number. This I have not seen since I updated my add-ons, so that one might be ok.
Also, the formatting of the citations is not how I want it in the final paper. There are normal sized numbers in parentheses. I want superscripts.
I apologize if this all has been addressed--I have not found the answers.
thank you very much.
  • n1kkystyx
    Another thing is happening now: sometimes when i add a citation, I get the message that I have modified this citation since I last put it in (although it is a new citation). Zotero then takes me through my entire document, giving me the choice of not saving changes to each citation or locking the citation, making it impossible to change in the future. I don't know what is actually happening, but I choose "no don't save changes". It then gets to my bibliography, and if I choose "no", it deletes my bibliography. I am afraid to hit "yes", but not sure what to do.
    thank you!!!!!
  • adamsmith
    as for the way the citation appears - that's part of the citation style - there are styles that use numbers in parentheses (e.g. Vancouver) and styles that put them in superscript w/o parentheses (e.g. Nature, Vancouver superscript). You can find the latter ones here:
    http://www.zotero.org/styles.

    For your first proplem, my suspicion would be that you still have your cursor outside of the citation - easy to miss if you just have one number. Select the citation (as if you wanted to copy&paste it) and try again. If that doesn't help we'll see further.

    For the last issue (your second post) could you give use the precise message you're getting?
  • n1kkystyx
    thank you--I did not see the vancouver superscript style. I will change it.
    Re the edit citation problem: I do sweep over the entire citation as though I wanted to copy and paste it, and it does not work. In some cases, I have a list of citations, perhaps I need to select them all? I know, it is messy, because I have not figured this out yet.

    I will have to give you the precise message from the last problem the next time that it happens. Thank you!
  • adamsmith
    To help me better understand what's going on - could you make a copy of your document (for security - so you're not messing around with your main document) and then, in that copy, change the citation style to Chicago (author-date). Three questions
    1. Do you get any error messages when you do that (if so, which exactly?)
    2. Do all of your citations convert from numbers to author-date (like Smith 1776)?
    3. When you place your cursor in one of these and select edit citation - does it work?

    If the answers to these are no, yes, and yes everything is working correctly and you're doing something wrong when you're trying to edit a citation. Otherwise something isn't working as it should and we need to figure out what.
  • n1kkystyx
    Hello--
    I did as you asked.
    1. no error messages
    2. converted to author-date in superscript
    3. did not work

    Thank you--
  • adamsmith
    thanks - that's odd. You're still getting the "You must place your cursor..." message? I don't think we've ever seen that.
    1 and 2 mean that things are working correctly, and your document is in good shape*.

    I'll think about an explanation for 3. It'd be great if you could play with this a little bit to figure out if there is a way you can get "edit citation" to work or if it's just never working.
    To recapitulate, the way this is supposed to work:
    1. You click somewhere inside the citation (I asked you to switch to author-date because it's clearer when you're inside a citation).
    2. You see your cursor inside the citation - if you started writing you would get e.g. (Smith jkl; 1776).
    3. Then you click the "edit citation" button in the Zotero Word plugin toolbar.


    * the superscript shouldn't happen but occasionally does, might well be a Word issue, too - should you actually need to switch to a style that's not superscripted, the workaround is to switch to a footnote style (Chicago Manual of Style (Note) e.g.) and then to the style you want.
  • n1kkystyx
    the steps that you have listed--yes, that is what I have been doing. I am still getting the "you must place your cursor..." message.
    I will definitely keep trying. I have restarted the computer a few times today after updating my add-ons, and nothing has changed. I really appreciate your help.
  • adamsmith
    Simon - any ideas?
  • Simon
    What versions of Firefox, Word, and the Word plugin?
  • n1kkystyx
    Firefox 11.0
    Word 12.2.9
    plug-in 3.5.1
    Thanks
    Nicole
  • adamsmith
    edited March 19, 2012
    try updating your add-ons - a new Word plugin has just become available, that might(!) fix this.
    Edit: Make that _should_ fix this.
  • n1kkystyx
    I updated the Word add-on. I can now click on a citation and it lets me hit "edit citation" without the error message. However, the citation box is empty--should I not be seeing the citations that I am editing?
    thank you for your help.
  • n1kkystyx
    Actually, hold that. I restarted everything. it seems to work correctly. I will work some more and let you know!
    thank you---
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