[mlz] "citation style" not inherited

wonblee
When I create a new copy of an existing document, using Microsoft Word's "save as..." command, MLZ asks me to choose a citation style for the new document when I try to insert a new citation.

I think with Zotero, the chosen citation style was inherited from the original Word document to its copy, so Zotero never asked to choose a citation style for the new document. Can I make MLZ behave the same?
  • fbennett
    edited December 3, 2012
    The new copy should have the same settings and data in it as the original. If a Zotero style was selected when the document was saved, and the settings persist when the original document is closed and reopened, the same should be true of the copy. If the settings are being lost in the original, that may be a bug in MLZ. If they are being lost only on the copy, the cause must lie in Word somewhere -- MLZ itself cannot discriminate between two copies of a document.
  • wonblee
    Just for a testing purpose, I went back to the old, "father" documents and tried to insert citations. Strangely, Zotero (or MLZ) asks me to choose the citation style again. These old documents are already full of citations, so there is no doubt a citation style was chosen for these documents in the past but has since been lost somehow. So, according to your diagnosis, I think it's a bug in MLZ.
  • fbennett
    Have you tried inserting a citation into one of the old documents using a recent Zotero release? To be clear, if you select a citation style using current MLZ, save the document, and then find that it prompts you to select a citation style when the document is opened and you attempt to insert a citation, that would likely be an MLZ bug. Just to be sure, I tested with LibreOffice after your report above, and the citation style was remembered.

    If documents created with an earlier version of Zotero prompt for a citation style when reopened, that may not be a bug. We would need to be sure that official Zotero doesn't behave in the same way against the same documents.
  • wonblee
    edited December 3, 2012
    if you select a citation style using current MLZ, save the document, and then find that it prompts you to select a citation style when the document is opened and you attempt to insert a citation, that would likely be an MLZ bug.
    Yes, this is what's happening to my Word documents.
    Have you tried inserting a citation into one of the old documents using a recent Zotero release?
    No, because it would require going back to Zotero from MLZ. I understand that you can switch back and forth between the two pretty easily, but I'd rather not. Before switching to MLZ, I had been using the latest Zotero and I never ran into this kind of problem.
  • adamsmith
    can I ask - once a citation style is chose - does Zotero/MLZ recognize the old citations? Because the only case in which I've seen that is where field codes had been removed in one way or the other.
  • wonblee
    Yes, MLZ definitely recognizes the old citations inserted with Zotero.
  • fbennett
    I'll try to find a Windows PC around the building and check this out. It works fine with LibreOffice on Linux, perhaps there is something specific to Word or the Windows environment.
  • fbennett
    I've run a test with Word 2010 under Windows 7, with the latest MLZ and the current Word Integration plugin (version 3.1.9). It works fine; the style is saved with the document, and takes effect automatically when the document is reopened after closing.

    What is your environment (OS, Firefox version, Word version, Zotero version, plugin version, style)?
  • wonblee
    Word 2003 (it may have gone extinct in other parts of the world) under Windows 7 and Vista. The same symptom presents itself under both versions of Windows.
    Word plugin 3.1.9.
    Firefox 16.0.2
    Style: MLZ American Law Style

    The symptom is reliably reproducible at least under my settings.
  • fbennett
    If possible, try upgrading Firefox to version 17.
  • wonblee
    I have, but it didn't help.
  • fbennett
    I've tested on two separate platforms, with the same result, saving and reopening in three separate file formats (*.doc, *.docx, and *.xml).

    Without reproducing the error here, there is not much I can do to help, I'm afraid. If you are able to identify any features of your system that trigger the behaviour (other FF plugins installed, freshly created Word 2010 documents versus those initially created with Word 2003, anti-virus or security software installed on your systems etc etc), that would be good to know.
  • wonblee
    Thanks for trying.

    Well, it's not a critical issue, just a minor inconvenience for me. But like you said, I'll stay watchful for possible clues.

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