Non-responsive Word plugin for Firefox

bastiaanJACJ
I'm using Firefox 31.0 with the following add-ons enabled:
Zotero 4.0.21.5
Zotero Word for Windows Integration 3.1.16

While the plugin buttons are displayed in Word, they are non-responsive.
Reinstalling the add-ons and restarting Firefox did not solve the problem.
There seems to be some form of connection, because when Firefox is not open and I click on a Zotero icon in Word I get a pop-up screen saying Firefox should be opened first.

Would be grateful for any advice you can offer.
  • adamsmith
    did you re-install the add-ons via the "re-install Word components" button in the Zotero preferences? That'd be good to try.
    Otherwise, Zone Alarm has been a frequent culprit for this particular issue. Do you have that installed?
  • bastiaanJACJ
    Thanks for your response, Adam.
    I've pressed the "reinstall Microsoft Word Add-in" via Zotero -> Preferences. Unfortunately this did not solve the problem.
    I do not use Zone Alarm on my PC.
    Any other possibilities or work-arounds?
  • adamsmith
    Provide a debug ID from Zotero after clicking on a word processor button. Let's see if something gets there:
    http://www.zotero.org/support/debug_output

    Also, make sure the window with the word processor plugin dialog isn't just hidden, i.e. circle through all your open windows after clicking the add citation (or set document preferences) button.
  • bastiaanJACJ
    No hidden dialogs.
    The Debug ID is D265006947
  • bastiaanJACJ
    I've changed the default browser settings; set it to Firefox.
    I'm not sure whether it really takes the portable Firefox one; I don't see the tools menu with Zotero.
    Tried again getting a citation into Word. This Debug ID is D951279619
  • dstillman
    No relevant output there.
    I'm not sure whether it really takes the portable Firefox one; I don't see the tools menu with Zotero.
    What do you mean by this?
  • bastiaanJACJ
    I'm wondering whether the problems might have something to do with Word not communicating with my portable version of Firefox, which has the Zotero Add-on installed. When I use a shortcut key a Firefox browser opens that does not have Zotero installed as a tool.

    But perhaps you have different leads to solve the issue?
  • adamsmith
    yes, that sounds right. Why didn't you mention the portable version earlier? I don't believe that will work with Word easily.
  • bastiaanJACJ
    I've chosen Zotero at the time, because it doesn't need to be a standalone version but can run under (portable) Firefox, which gives optimal freedom in accessing the library from anywhere.

    Are you now saying that the Word plugin is, however, not suited for a portable version of Firefox?
  • adamsmith
    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/35915/word-plugin-and-firefox-portable/
    seems to suggest it works. I assume you have installed the Word add-on in the Portable Firefox version?
  • bastiaanJACJ
    Yes I have.
  • mahesh6776
    i too have the same problem
  • adamsmith
    Please don't write "same problem"--describe what you're seeing in detail, including exactly which troubleshooting you've done, and we'll see if it's the same problem. E.g are you also using portable Firefox? Have
  • mahesh6776
    I'm using Firefox 31.0 with the following add-ons enabled:
    Zotero 4.0.21.5
    Zotero Word for Windows Integration 3.1.16

    While the plugin buttons are displayed in Word, they are non-responsive.
    Reinstalling the add-ons and restarting Firefox did not solve the problem.
    There seems to be some form of connection, because when Firefox is not open and I click on a Zotero icon in Word I get a pop-up screen saying Firefox should be opened first.
  • adamsmith
    @Dan @aurimasv - any thoughts what to check for here? These seem to come up more (see also https://twitter.com/HiddenPeanuts/status/502815878518693888 ) and I don't quite understand why or how to troubleshoot, especially on Windows.
  • adamsmith
    (@mahesh - not terribly helpful to just copy&paste, btw. E.g which Word version, which Windows version, you didn't answer my question about FF portable, didn't describe exactly what _you_ tried to do to troubleshoot, don't answer questions about ZoneAlarm and a debug ID I asked about etc. Details really matter as we're trying to figure out what's going on. Obviously this isn't a problem affecting all Word for Windows users, so the more details we get, the better.)
  • aurimas
    There is very little going on on the Word side when using Zotero Word Add-in. Basically, if Zotero is able to find a running ZSA/Firefox instance (if not it will display an error message) it will send a message to that process. That's the extent of code in the Zotero.dot template. After that, if the message reaches Zotero, something will be logged in the debug log and we can go from there. So basically, we need a Debug ID for all of these reports.

    Dan mentioned that there were no errors in the previous report, but maybe we can trace it to some spot in the code. Also, for instance, the "Zotero could not load a necessary component..." error that you get if you do not have the Word Integration extension installed does not get logged in the Debug log directly, but does show up at the top with other thrown errors. I assume that's the first thing that Dan checked though. Maybe we need to add some more debugging code to figure this one out.

    I can reproduce the non-responsive toolbar, but only if I don't have Zotero installed in Firefox and Firefox is open. In this case I do get "Warning: unrecognized command line flag -ZoteroIntegrationAgent" logged in the Browser Console (Ctrl+Shift+J) in this case. If someone finds themselves in the same situation (i.e. with those errors), then it would mean that Zotero.dot was placed in the Word Startup folder, so Word Integration addon was installed (at some point anyway), but Zotero itself either was not installed (I can imagine this happening) or was unable to register the command line handlers (maybe some other add-on is interfering).

    If there is nothing logged in the Browser Console _and_ there is no mention of Word Integration in the Debug log, then either some other extension is intercepting the messages from Word, or the messages are being sent to a different instance of Firefox/Zotero Standalone.

    TL;DR: @mahesh6776, @bastiaanJACJ, others, we need to see the Debug log covering a click on a Zotero button in Word and we need to know if you get any of the following Warnings in the Firefox Browser Console (press Ctrl+Shift+J to access): "Warning: unrecognized command line flag -ZoteroIntegrationAgent", "Warning: unrecognized command line flag -ZoteroIntegrationCommand", "Warning: unrecognized command line flag -ZoteroIntegrationDocument" (should be at the bottom of the console after you click the button in Word)

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