Duplicating citations through copy and paste in Word

markt · November 11, 2013

I have been searching around these forums but can't seem to find a clear answer to my question.

Due to slow insertion of citations in Word, I would like to know whether it is safe to copy and paste a citation field. I would like to mention 1 source multiple times but worried that the field code won't copy properly.

Is it OK to use copy and paste Zotero citation fields to duplicate them in Word?

adamsmith · November 11, 2013

Try it out to be safe: if it works at all - i.e. if the second citation is recognized as a Zotero citation (check e.g. the grey shading or try to "edit citation") - then it's safe, yes.
I believe this should work in Word - it doesn't in LibreOffice, though.

markt · November 11, 2013

Thanks adam, it does appear as a grey field and can be edited.

This is a big time saver, thank you!

bwiernik · December 13, 2013

It definitely works in Word. It won't automatically update the formatting (et al, etc.) until you either insert a new reference via the dialogue, edit a reference via the dialogue (opening and saving immediately will work fine), or click the "Refresh" button.