How do I combine word documents with bibliographies?

hpitchik
I already have multiple different work documents each with their own bibliographies and that I made using zotero. I now want to copy them all into a single document but am not sure what's going to happen to the bibliography and in text citations...
  • adamsmith
    What do you want them to do?
    If you past all of your documents into one single document, by default that will be one single Zotero document - i.e. all references will be part of the bibliography (if you're pasting them into an empty document, you need to either insert any citation first or set a citation style via "Set Document Preferences" - else this won't work). If the individual items already have bibliographies you may get multiple completel bibliographies interpersed through the document- you can simply delete the ones you don't want.

    If you want to keep the bibliographies separate, see here:
    http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/17714/separate-reference-lists-in-each-chapter/#Item_8
  • hpitchik
    Thank you! I want one complete bibliography at the end of the new document, however obviously each chapter currently has a bibiliography at the end of it. How do I get them to all combine at the end? Or are you saying that if I past all the chapters into a new document and then click "create documentary" it will create a new one combining all the cititions and then I should just delete the in text bibiliographies after each chapter?
  • adamsmith
    Or are you saying that if I past all the chapters into a new document and then click "create documentary" it will create a new one combining all the cititions and then I should just delete the in text bibiliographies after each chapter?
    this. Assuming you mean "click insert bibliography"
  • hpitchik
    Yes that is what I meant, thank you!!!
  • Ceri Owen
    Hello,

    I have five chapters to my thesis, and I need to combine them all into one big document with one bibliography.

    I'm worried because if I try cutting and pasting a short section of text into a new document, then clicking 'Add bibliography', then the bibliography field is blank, it does not pick up on the existing citations.

    NB that all my documents have been switched formats between LibreOffice .odt & Word .doc several times, if that makes any difference - am using bookmarks. But right now I'm using libreoffice and .doc format.

    Thanks for your help.
  • adamsmith
    If you do that, first set a style for the document under "Set Document Preferences". Then it should work.
  • Ceri Owen
    Thank you for your help.

    I have tried doing 'set document preferences' first. It does not work. I just get {Bibliography} where the bibliography should go.

    I am confused about what to try next.
  • adamsmith
    Try switching the original document to reference marks or the new doc to bookmarks
  • Ceri Owen
    Thank you, have tried that, sorry, still not working :(
  • adamsmith
    does inserting a bibliography in the original document work?
  • Ceri Owen
    Yes, inserting a bibliography in the original document does seem to work, though I have not checked that everything matches properly yet.
  • Ceri Owen
    Any further suggestions please? All the chapters can make bibliographies on their own, but not when I cut and paste them together. They are all using bookmarks, store references in document, .doc files, Elsevier Harvard.
  • adamsmith
    So the problems really are the bookmarks here.
    Try setting the chapters to "Reference Marks" in "Set Document Preferences". You should now see citations highlighted in grey.
    Those you should be able to copy to a new document without any issues.You can then switch the new document to bookmarks again.

    I'd recommend doing all this in copies of your chapters as you'll lose a chapter's connection to Zotero if you save it as .doc with Reference Marks selected.
  • Ceri Owen
    Thank you very much! Your suggestion above is working for most of my documents. But there is one for which it is not working.

    When I try to 'set document preferences', then I get the error message:

    'Your document must be permanently upgraded in order to work with Zotero 2.1 or later. It is recommended that you make a backup before proceeding. Are you sure you want to continue?'

    Then when I click OK it gives another error message:

    'Zotero cannot update this document because it was created by a different word processing application with an incompatible field encoding. In order to make a document compatible with both Word and OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice/NeoOffice, open the document in the word processor with which it was originally created and switch the field type to Bookmarks in the Zotero Document Preferences'.

    I only have LibreOffice on my computer. My supervisor only uses Word. I have been using Bookmarks all the time.

    Please can you suggest what I should do for this document?

    Thank you so much!
  • Ceri Owen
    ^ for the above document - it is not working saved as either .doc or as .odt.
  • adamsmith
    but the document is otherwise functional? E.g. you can insert a bibliography?
  • Ceri Owen
    Just checked. Can't insert bibliography. Can't insert reference. Oh dear.
  • adamsmith
    There is a decent chance that's fixable:
    http://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_troubleshooting#debugging_broken_documents
  • Ceri Owen
    Thank you, I will try. As for step 7, this is the report ID: 366913740

    Is there a way to just strip the document so I can put the references in again from scratch, if that would be easier? It is a short document with few references.
  • Ceri Owen
    Tried up to Step 8, it did not work with either half taken out.
  • adamsmith
    Is there a way to just strip the document so I can put the references in again from scratch, if that would be easier?
    I'd guess "Remove Field Codes" in the LO plugin still works. If it does, that does exactly that.
    If that fails, I'd guess saving the document as RTF, closing it, reopening it and saving again as .doc should do (though will probably mess with your formatting a bit).
  • Ceri Owen
    Thank you, this works. It was my shortest chapter. Hooray, now I have my whole thesis written, and a bibliography for all of it. I can print and submit tomorrow. Thank you so very much!
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