communicating with Zotero [from Word/OO]

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  • PPS: I have just copied the entire text of the original into a new document.This seems to have solved the problem. No error messages after closing and re-opening. Still it seems strange...
  • Hello.
    My situation: I tried to upgrade my OpenOffice 2.3.1 to OO2.4 (on WinXP). I had to uninstall OO2.3.1, but it turned out that for some reason Microsoft Installer doesn't work on my computer. So I had to install OO2.4 manually by extracting files from the MSI package. It was OK, now I have OO2.4 working. But Zotero doesn't work due to the communication fault. I installed OO2.3.1 (also manually), but the problem remains even in it, although Zotero used to work fine in OO2.3.1.
    My question: Is there anything I missed while manual installation? Something like registration of components? Does the Zotero extension work directly with FireFox base or needs some info from the registry file? Please advise.
    PS I've tried three different versions of the Zotero OO extension including the last one.
  • I am having similar problems.
    working with two separate machines, trying to use Flock as the browser, and trying to put a bibliography into a MS Word document.

    "Error... trouble communicating.... Firefox and try again"

    thought, might be a problem with different browser.
    uninstalled everything, removed template plug in from word, the whole shebang,

    reinstalled,
    nothing, failure.

    checked for updates, updated to 1. 0.3
    failure again
    any news on this?
    very sad
  • I am having this problem as well. I'm working on Firefox 2.0.0.14 and Zotero 1.0.3. I selected all the text and copied and pasted it into a new MS Word document, as someone suggested, which worked. But the next day I'm finding that I have to do this again. Will I have to create a new document every day? Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I use Zotero on two different machines (with almost identical libraries) and switch the document from one computer to the other depending on whether I'm at work or at home. I'm just curious - I may just put in my own references and wait until the document is completed to enter them from Zotero...
  • Did this ever get fixed? I'm running Word 2003, Windows XP, and Firefox 2.0.0.14 and Zotero 1.0.3. I'm getting the communication error with Word where it says to make sure Firefox is open (it is). I've sent an error report, but haven't heard anything. I can't get Zotero or Word to do notes in an existing document or in a new document. Would be grateful for any suggestions. Thanks!
  • I have the same problem with the you-know-what communication error message at my home PC, where I use:
    -MS Windows XP Media Center 2002, SP-2 (German)
    -MS Word 2000 SP-3 (English)
    -Firefox 2.0.0.14 (English) Zotero 1.0.3, Plugin for Word 1.0b3

    Strangely enough, at my office where I have...
    -MS XP Professional 2002, SP-2 (English)
    -MS Word 2003 SP-2 (English)
    -Firefox 2.0.0.14 (English) Zotero 1.0.3, Plugin for Word 1.0b3

    ...the error does not occur (or has not occurred yet)... Does it have something to do with the German Version of Windows? or is it something in the settings of MS Word or Mozilla? Do others that report the communication error problem have a non-English version of Windows installed?
  • Although I don't believe my problem had to do with the localized version of Windows (see my post on Mar 12), I am using a German version, if it helps.
  • I've added a documentation page that summarizes some of the troubleshooting steps outlined in this thread. Make sure you are running Zotero 1.0.4, which fixes some potential causes of communication errors.
  • I was having the same problem as everyone else "An Error occurred communicating with Zotero. Please ensure Firefox is open and try again." I found a fix that worked on my iBook. I went to System Preferences, Network tab, then I clicked on Use Passive FTP Mode in the Proxies tab. Seemed to fix the problem. Maybe I'm paranoid, but since I am totally ignorant of this stuff I'm worried about messing something up. Does this compromise my firewall at all?
  • I found a fix that worked on my iBook. I went to System Preferences, Network tab, then I clicked on Use Passive FTP Mode in the Proxies tab. Seemed to fix the problem. Maybe I'm paranoid, but since I am totally ignorant of this stuff I'm worried about messing something up. Does this compromise my firewall at all?
    No, but it also shouldn't have any effect whatsoever on the word processor plugins, at least that I can think of. Zotero doesn't use FTP, and any semi-intelligent proxy client should automatically skip the proxy server when connecting to localhost (a.k.a. 127.0.0.1), which is how the plugins talk to Zotero. (I just verified that this works with the Leopard system proxy settings and the manual proxy settings in NeoOffice.) But there might be some cases where entering localhost or 127.0.0.1 into the list of bypassed hosts would help. If so, we'd certainly want to know about it.

    And if Passive FTP mode really does have an effect, that'd be interesting news.
  • Report ID: 1082528361

    I am getting "An error occurred communicating with Zotero. Please ensure Firefox is open and try again." I am running Firefox 3.0b5, Ubuntu 8.04, OOo 2.4, Zotero 1.04 and the OOo plugin 1.0b3. This is a recent problem as previous versions of Zotero have worked. I have tried everything I've read on the forums to no avail. Any suggestions you might have would be greatly appreciated, as I am counting on Zotero for some research that I am about to begin. Thanks for all of your hard work. This is by far the best plugin for Firefox.
  • Report ID: 1082528361

    I am getting "An error occurred communicating with Zotero. Please ensure Firefox is open and try again."
    No errors related to Zotero in that error report, so you'll have to follow the other steps on the troubleshooting page.
  • I was having this same communication problem with Word on my Mac but I think I just fixed it--I had been using track changes but once I accepted all the changes, it started working again.
  • Error Code #1579056663

    The same communication problem that everyone else has listed above. I was typing a new sentence and needed to add a citation and it stopped communicating.

    I had been using the Word document and Zotero (latest version) on my MacBook running 10.5.3 OS.

    So I'm a little confused on what the actual fix is for this. Do I have to recopy everything over to a new document or is it something else?
  • Just to add to the above. The only thing that changed on my network at home was the Airport Base Station downloaded a new update of software and that seems to have caused the problem.

    After reading the documentation provided, I don't see a fix for that or I'm not understanding what to change.
  • Report ID 1949789392

    Okay I have tried all of the trouble shooting tips that have been posted and so far nothing works.
    I'm in the process of writing my thesis and I need this to work. Please help!!!
  • Okay I have tried all of the trouble shooting tips that have been posted and so far nothing works.
    There are no Zotero errors in those reports.

    Assuming this still works in a new document, follow the steps under Debugging Broken Documents on the troubleshooting page.
  • edited June 10, 2008
    Hi,

    I have found a solution to this problem

    Just create another word file and make copy/paste from the current one. And now with this new word file it is fine

    PS : if you want to keep the same style, take a very old one and make copy/paste and rename it to get the new one
  • I get the same error message in a new document, in the old document, in a document that I have copied and pasted etc... So far nothing has cleared this error. I will gladly send a copy of the document to you to try as well.
  • I get the same error message in a new document, in the old document, in a document that I have copied and pasted etc... So far nothing has cleared this error. I will gladly send a copy of the document to you to try as well.
    If you get the error in a new blank document, it doesn't have anything to do with your existing documents.

    Try temporarily disabling any firewall/security software and restarting your computer. Make sure Firefox isn't running in more than one OS X user account. If none of that helps, send the debug output (from starting Firefox through hitting Insert Citation in Word) to support@zot....org. You should see "Integration HTTP server listening on 127.0.0.1:50001" in the debug output when you start Firefox.
  • The only software firewall is on my wifes computer and that does not run Zotero at all. Would that have an effect on this problem. Her computer is the only one with security software as well.
  • Also when I tried your debug output nothing happened. The terminal said there was "No Document/file found". I followed the directions you have listed about setting the debug log to True and so on.
    I'm not the most computer literate person so I am be missing something.
  • edited June 13, 2008
    Also when I tried your debug output nothing happened. The terminal said there was "No Document/file found"
    This is on OS X? Is that exactly what it said? Not "Command not found"?

    Assuming it said "Command not found" (since I don't know of any program that says "No Document/file found"), see the additional instructions I've added to the debug output page.
  • edited June 30, 2008
    I have the same (communicating with Zotero) error message. (Mac OSX, FF3 latest zotero)

    However, for me it normally occurs only when sing multiple citations. This appears to be due to zotero timing out. If I just add one citation and wait, I get the error message. This pretty much always happens by the time I get to the tenth citation. I've submitted an error report and pasted it below (850646878).

    Any help would be much appreciated!

    [JavaScript Error: "Warning: unrecognized command line flag -foreground
    " {file: "file:///Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/components/nsBrowserContentHandler.js" line: 661}]

    [JavaScript Error: "this.docShell is null" {file: "chrome://global/content/bindings/browser.xml" line: 0}]
  • Just to add. I don't need to restart firefox to get it to work again, just exit the citation window and reopen it... adding references faster!
  • Erorrreport: 1590666170

    Hello! I Still have the problem, that there is a communication error even if firefox is switched on. After the last uptate it seemed that everything would now funktion properly, but then it the error appeared again.
    And I cannot do the copy-paste operation, because the document is pretty long and it just takes lots of time. Do you have any solution? Thanks.
  • Hi --
    I'm new to Zotero and have been trying for the past few hours to get started with this application. I can't get Word 07 and Firefox 3.0/Zotero 1.0.6 to communicate with each other. I keep getting the message: "An Error Has Occurred Communicating With Zotero. Please Ensure Firefox is OPen and Try Again". I've tried following all of the troubleshooting instructions on the site and in the threads above (disabling firewall/checking debug output etc) but to no avail. I'm running Windows XP, SP3 and can't insert citations in new/empty documents. The Error Report number I've generated is: 806095398.
    Many thanks in advance for any help with this.
    Cheers,
    Marcus
  • Id 881161076

    I have tried cancelling anti-virus and firewall. Have WinXP SP3 , Firefox 3.0.1 recently upgraded also zotero but problem mantains:
    "An error occurred communicating with Zotero. Please ensure Firefox is open and try again.". Also in new documents.

    Strangly once I could resolve the problem just going to the net(the connection word-firefox seemed to work again like the window where we should chouse the style of the format (APA,etc..) was freezen the program)
    I hope I could help help me also
    Love the program!
  • Sorry, but I found my zotero.dot file was not in the startup directory (yes, ok basic...) The minute i reinstalled it became working againg...just then I had two zotero's add in because I could not unistall from whithin Word (Remove option present but not available in office 2003 Sp3).
    Now I deleted the file and: Magic!!! It's working (for 2 minutes now...)
  • 1607078229

    Stoped working again...
    It's really strange... I've already changed the macro security options of word to minimum... it resolved the problem for a while but then the problem comes back...as soon as I turn off the net...
    Anything to do with erasing the bibliography?(I had to imput other entries and order alphabeticly and word couldn't do it with zotero list...)
    Any help
    Dead lines here
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