Disable Internet Explorer

JohnSkliros
Zotero Standalone defaults to firing up Internet Explorer and I want it to run Firefox. I have tried EVERYTHING (that I can think of) to change this behaviour, including disabling IE altogether! Sadly, all to no avail. Now Zotero Standalone simply doesn't respond when clicking a link. Please assist.

Windows 7 64 bit all up to date.
  • adamsmith
    zotero standalone would just pass that on to the the operating system - so somewhere in your Windows settings IE is defined as the default software for opening links from other programs.
    It's obviously not a default coded in to ZSA.
  • JohnSkliros
    Thanks Adam. I realise that but I am at a complete loss here. There now isn't a single file type associated with IE. And I have completely disabled IE to boot. Links from anywhere else open in Firefox .... but not from Zotero Standalone. Any suggestions are welcome.
  • adamsmith
    just guessing here, but you have tried restarting the computer?
  • JohnSkliros
    Hahahahaha .... yes, I did, but it's an appropriate suggestion. Anyway, I fiddled some more and finally decided to associate the file type .lnk with Firefox. That proved to be a mistake as all my desktop LINKS (and any other LINKS) tried to open in Firefox. I immediately tried to change it back to "unknown" but the friendly contract programmers in Transylvania had other ideas: there isn't an option to undo that change.
    When all else fails, there's always the trusty System Restore, isn't there. Well, not ONE of my six restore points would successfully restore! Firefox saved the day though as I managed to find a utility that allowed me to "un-associate" .lnk files. The site I found it on looks packed with all sorts of useful goodies:
    http://www.winhelponline.com.
    This fiasco began because I wanted to use Zotero on Chrome and thought that Standalone was the route. Anyway, this is taking up far too much time so I'll just abandon that idea. Thanks for your suggestions.
  • JohnSkliros
    I am forced to discontinue using Firefox because it is causing serious errors with my Nvidia graphics card (me and many thousands of others). However, I need to use Zotero.
    As detailed above, I can't prevent the standalone version from loading Internet Explorer (for whatever reason) so I decided to try the Zotero connector for Chrome.
    The instructions from http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/httpserver_enabled are:
    To use the Chrome and Safari connectors without switching to Zotero Standalone, you can actually use the Zotero instance in Firefox as your central repository, and the Safari and Chrome connectors can send citations to it. Type about:config in the address bar of Firefox and search for “connector”. You'll want to double-click on the entry extensions.zotero.httpServer.enabled and restart Firefox.
    If you follow those instructions, you won't see any entry resembling
    extensions.zotero.httpServer.enabled
    Try it ....

    So, it seems that the instructions are wrong and perhaps they should be fixed.

    Anyway, I created the entry extensions.zotero.httpServer.enabled in about:config and set it to true. Then I "installed" the connector in Chrome and ..... nothing.

    Despite this cheery mention in the same instructions:
    Then install the connector in the other browser (Chrome or Safari) and also restart this browser. Now the Save to Zotero icon should show up in that browser too, and clicking it will result in the item being saved in the Zotero library in Firefox.
    there's nothing showing up in Chrome that vaguely resembles Zotero.

    There is a way though .... you just have to search very long and hard for it.

    It would be nice if Zotero paid more attention to their documentation.
  • adamsmith
    edited December 5, 2011
    The connectors and the standalone are beta software - they work smoothly for many people, but if you're going to get testy if documentation isn't finished or perfect, maybe you shouldn't use beta software.

    In this case the problem was that the name of the hidden pref is changed between the 2.1.10 version and the 3.0 version. In the older version it is connector.enabled - that's noted on the hidden preference site, but slipped by in the kb entry.
    You may be better of using the 3.0 beta version if you're going to use connectors anyway.

    edit: I have fixed the documentation. We are always thankful to get pointers on where documentation is incomplete or misleading.
  • dstillman
    John: What adamsmith said, but also, what exactly are you trying to accomplish? I think you might misunderstand what the connectors are. The connectors allow you to save items to Zotero from other browsers. They don't give you anything resembling Zotero itself—that's what Zotero Standalone is for. That hidden pref is for using the connectors with Zotero for Firefox instead of with Zotero Standalone. But you just said you didn't want to use Firefox, so I'm not really sure what you're doing.
  • Simon
    Also, it sounds like the issue that you originally reported is due to having Internet Explorer set as your default browser, which I think you can change within Chrome's preferences.
  • marybj
    Lurking this thread and others, I am totally confused. I have downloaded this wondeful program, which seems to say it does NOT run on IE (which I use). Do I need to switch to Firefox (or Chrome) or not before I start using this? Thanks.
  • adamsmith
    edited December 6, 2011
    correct - you cannot use Zotero with IE. You will, likely, in future versions, but currently only FF is fully supported and there are connector plugins for the beta standalone version for Safari and Chrome.
  • marybj
    OK, thanks. So I have installed FF and set it as my default. Am trying to follow the Zotero set-up instructions (that came with my e-mail validation) but 1) I see no Zotero icon in the bottom right of the FF window, and 2)there is no "gear" icon at the top of the left column, although i am logged in. what to do?
  • marybj
    PS I think I figured it out. As a virgin FF user, I didn't know I needed to install the FF add-in before following the instructions in the validation e-mail. Virgins beware! We're on our own.
  • Lauren2611
    I am using internet explorer and have downloaded zotero but i can't find any icons? can somebody help please
  • adamsmith
    see above:
    "you cannot use Zotero with IE. You will, likely, in future versions"
  • jstorrs
    edited December 21, 2012
    I'm running Zotero and Chrome just fine with the connector except that Zotero always open links in IE. Is there some way to force zotero to just ignore the system default and open links directly in Chrome? Apparently you can't set the user-installed version of Chrome as default browser without administrator intervention.

    https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=142340

    The business apps here are only supported on IE so changing the default won't happen. Is there a hidden knob I can tweak?
  • adamsmith
    no, Zotero just passes links on to the default browser - in most settings that makes sense.

    As for using IE with Zotero Standalone,
    the bookmarklet for that is now out:
    http://www.zotero.org/downloadbookmarklet
  • hansi linderoth
    Just switched to a Chrome < > ZS combo because FF portable has stopped working properly on some networks that I use (a certificates issue having nothing to with Zotero). I have no rights to change the 'default browser' on these networks.

    Thread here is quite old ... Is this drawback of ZS still part of ZS? There is still no way I can direct ZS to use Chrome (or any other browser I've successfully connected ZS to) to open links?
  • aurimas
    There is still no way to specify a browser. I don't think this is a high priority for any of the Zotero developers, but it _may_ be possible using a plugin. Maybe Zutilo would be interested in supporting this feature.
  • hansi linderoth
    edited June 14, 2014
    Aurimas, thanks for clearing that up.

    OK. That's no fun. Surely it is natural to expect that the browser I've opted for use with ZS will do all the work with ZS? I can't see why altering the OS's defaults should be necessary to prevent another browser from injecting itself into the workflow.

    What am I missing here?
  • aurimas
    You're missing the part where your situation is an outlier. 99.9 times out of 100 the expectation is to use the system default browser. Hence, the feature is not implemented.
  • adamsmith
    also, note that you can use multiple browsers with ZS—I'm using both Chrome and Firefox, for example.
    The logic here is the same as with any other file type: Zotero just passes it on to your OS.
    I think there is a chance that'll change for PDFs, where the option to specify a different program for Zotero is a frequent request, but for Snapshots/links, like Aurimas says, this hardly ever comes up and providing a custom option is a significant effort.
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