Changing footnoted citations to in-text parenthetical citations

worcblue
I converted an MLA formatted document to Chicago Style so that all parenthetical in-text citations became endnotes. I've subsequently improved the document, but would like this new improved document in MLA as well, but when I change my preferences back, it's keeping the endnotes.

Any ideas?
  • adamsmith
    have you tried switching to an entirely different style - say a numeric style like Vancouver - and then to MLA?

    Did you edit the endnotes in the file?
  • worcblue
    Have just given that a try to the same effect unfortunately
  • adamsmith
    how about my other question? Did you edit the endnotes?
    See if you can create an error report ID and post it here:
    http://www.zotero.org/support/reporting_bugs

    are the endnotes formatted in MLA or Chicago Style?
  • worcblue
    Sorry, missed that. I can't remember to be honest, though it is likely that I did edit.

    Also, citation footnotes/endnotes are mixed in with notes that are non-citation, that just provide commentary on the text. However, you can tell which are Zotero insertions by the highlights when you click on them.

    As regard formatting, I just let Zotero take care of that - so Chicago, which I'm trying to turn back to MLA.

    I can create an error report ID, but perhaps I'll try restarting my computer first. Let you know...
  • adamsmith
    Try restarting first. Then see about the error ID after trying to switch citation styles.
  • worcblue
    OK, did as you suggested and received the following:

    Zotero experienced an error updating your document.

    [Exception... " Component returned failure code: 0x80004005
    (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [zoteroIntegrationDocument.convert]" nsresult:
    "0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) " location: "JS frame :: chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/integration.js :: <TOP_LEVEL> :: line 1069" data:no]

    Should I post the error ID as failure code 0x80004005 ?
  • Gracile
    I think adamsmith wanted to write "report ID":
    http://www.zotero.org/support/reporting_bugs
    You need to click the "Next" button in the “Report Errors…” menu to get the report ID (the ID is displayed in red).
  • worcblue
    Hello adamsmith and Gracile

    I'm sorry for dropping this thread before - a long time ago now! - I was just overwhelmed by stuff at the time...

    I've still got the same problem - a piece of good writing, but unable to change the formatting back to MLA from Chicago.

    How do I create an error report ID please?
  • adamsmith
    See Gracile's link on the error report ID.
    Also, we'd want to know which Word processor you're using on which OS.
  • worcblue
    OK, thanks.

    Microsoft Word 2007 on Windows 7

    The Report ID: 711044262
  • adamsmith
    could you check this in a new document?
    I.e. create a note in Chicago style, then convert to MLA in a fresh doc - does that work?

    If so, it's probably worthwhile to run through these:
    http://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_troubleshooting#debugging_broken_documents
  • worcblue
    OK. I've just had a little breakthrough.

    So I tried creating a new document, setting the doc preferences to Chicago, inserting a citation, then changing the preferences to MLA. That worked.

    So, using my old document, I followed the steps (1-5) in the document you linked me to, but without success. At which point, using the a copy of the original file, I tried converting the document back to the Chicago Manual of Style (note) - the preferences had were still was still MLA in the plugin though the citations were not formatted to reflect this. Then I tried Vancouver, the document changed visibly, and then when I set the preferences to MLA, changed again to what I require.

    I had tried Vancouver, back to MLA before without success. It seems that what has worked was the pathway MLA-Chicago-Vancouver-MLA.

    Thanks for your help!
  • adamsmith
    OK, I don't understand why this worked, but very glad it did.
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