Extra citation information printed when importing to InDesign

I've run across a rather odd issue when importing a .docx file with Zotero citations to InDesign, though there is fortunately a workaround, namely to first save the file in .doc format. When importing a document created in Word 2007 and the latest Zotero into InDesign CS5.5, I noticed that citations of certain sources would consistently include bits of the raw citation data. For instance, the following citation:
R.W. Hunt, The Schools and the Cloister: The Life and Writings of Alexander Nequam (1157–1217), ed. Margaret T. Gibson (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984), 98–101.
comes out like this:
R.W. Hunt, The Schools and the Cloister: The Life and Writings of Alexander Nequam (1157–1217), ed. Margaret T. Gibson (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984), 98–101.”source”:”toroprod.library.utoronto.ca Library Catalog”,”event-place”:”Oxford”,”abstract”:”R. W. Hunt’s doctoral thesis, a factual rather than interpretative account of Nequam, a leading grammarian, scholar, and eventual monk, including Nequam’s well-constructed vocabulary De nominibus utensilium, “Of the names of useful things,” which was arranged as an account of the features and pursuits of everyday life.”,”ISBN”:”0198223986”,”call-number”:”BX4705 .N34 H86 1984”,”note”:”Local call number: 189.4 .N442 h. 942s OISE/UT\nLocal call number: PA 8390 .Z64 IMS\nLocal call number: BX 4705 .N395H86 1984 TRIN\nLocal call number: BX 4705 .N34H86 1984 ROBA\nPhysical description: xiii, 165 p., 2 p. of plates : ill. ; 23 cm\nSubject, personal: Neckam, Alexander, 1157-1217\nHistory note: Originally presented as the author’s thesis (doctoral--Oxford, 1936
A second citation of the items appends the same data. Or, again, what appears like this in Word:
C.J. Holdsworth, ‘Two Commentators on the “Song of Songs”: John of Forde and Alexander Nequam’, in A Gathering of Friends: The Learning and Spirituality of John of Forde, ed. Hilary Costello and C.J. Holdsworth, Cistercian Studies Series 161 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1996), 154.
comes out like this in InDesign:
C.J. Holdsworth, ‘Two Commentators on the “Song of Songs”: John of Forde and Alexander Nequam’, in A Gathering of Friends: The Learning and Spirituality of John of Forde, ed. Hilary Costello and C.J. Holdsworth, Cistercian Studies Series 161 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1996), 154.MI”,”page”:”153-187”,”source”:”toroprod.library.utoronto.ca Library Catalog”,”event-place”:”Kalamazoo, MI”,”ISBN”:”0879077611”,”call-number”:”BR75 .J65 Z65 1996”,”author”:[{“family”:”Holdsworth”,”given”:”C.J.”}],”editor”:[{“family”:”Costello”,”given”:”Hilary”},{“family”:”Holdsworth”,”given”:”C.J.”}],”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“1996”]]}},”locator”:”154”}],”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}
Saving the .docx file in Word 97–2003 (.doc) format before importing it into InDesign causes the text to appear normally. I've no idea whether this is a bug in Word, InDesign, or Zotero, or whether this still occurs in the latest versions of the former two.
  • Zotero embeds citation information (in JSON) in Word Fields. Word Fields are meant to contain all types of non-human-readable stuff - cross-references, bookmarks, etc. - so they should never show in an actual document (though you can toggle Word to show them for troubleshooting via alt+f9).

    If they do show up in InDesign but not in Word, the problem is most likely InDesign's import. It's definitely not in Zotero and likely not in Word.
  • The strange thing, though, is that it's only happening with certain citations. In the last document I finished, it was happening every time I cited these two sources (plus one other), but every other citation appeared normally. Could the embedded information be somehow malformed in such a way that Word tolerates, but InDesign does not?
  • you'd have to do some digging. IIRC, docx is an xml format that you can unpack with a zip viewer and then consult the individual xmls for oddities.
  • I might actually do that if I have the chance. It's not really a huge deal to me right now, since there's an easy workaround; I just wanted to post something in case someone else is having the same problem, or in case it's indicative of a broader issue.
  • I know it's been a little while, but I'm having this issue. The trick of going via a .doc is working for me, but it feels a bit inelegant. Is there any progress on a fix?

    I also only get it intermittently.
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