cut/copy and paste problems

barton.priebe · December 9, 2015

Is there a way to adjust the settings for how Zotero recognizes a first, second, third..etc citation of a particular resource when copying and pasting?

It does this automatically so that the first citation has the full information, the second has the shortened version and the third has an "ibid" (if all follow each other) BUT if I cut and paste anything into another part of the document it does not make the necessary adjustments. Hence, I end up having an "Ibid., 76." as the first reference for a book rather than the initial citation which should include all the information.

noksagt · December 9, 2015

There's no way for Zotero to do that now. Zotero can't impact the clipboard after you have copied an item. Given that you may place references non-linearly and/or into parallel documents and/or forget whether you've already copied a reference into the clipboard, I don't think that changing clipboard contents based on the current contents makes sense.

Any reason that you're not using the word processor plugins or the rtf scan function? This would get the references right.
https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_integration

barton.priebe · December 9, 2015

Thanks for your quick reply. I am using the word plugin. I am brand new to Zotero and so may just be missing something. Can you tell me how this should "get the references right"? That's all I am really after. All I want is to be able to move things around in my document and not have to worry about the Ibid. references becoming inaccurate. Is that possible?

adamsmith · December 9, 2015

Have you seen this?
https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_usage

barton.priebe · December 9, 2015

Yes, that is what I am using and think I understand it. Here is an example of my problem.

Citation 1: Sinclair Ferguson, "Children of the Living God" (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1989), 21.

Citation 2: Ferguson, "Children of the Living God", 41.

Citation 3: Ibid., 45.

Citation 4: Trevor Burke, "The Message of Sonship" (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2011), 134.

If I need to move the paragraph with citation #4 to a space in the document that falls between citation 2 and 3, the Ibid does not change. So it now looks like this:

Citation 1: Sinclair Ferguson, "Children of the Living God" (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1989), 21.

Citation 2: Ferguson, "Children of the Living God", 41.

Citation 3: Trevor Burke, "The Message of Sonship" (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2011), 134.

Citation 4: Ibid., 45.

It now appears like the Ibid reference applies to the Trevor Burke book when, in actual fact, it belongs to the Ferguson book.

Does that makes sense?

adamsmith · December 9, 2015

Have you tried clicking the refresh button in the Word add-on? That might take care of that. Not sure when the ibids update.

barton.priebe · December 9, 2015

Ah - it really was that simple. I had been using all the other functions but did not know the refresh button did this. Thanks so much for your time. You have saved me endless headaches.