Complex Script Font Size in Footnotes

All,

I'm running Zotero 4.0.29.2 on Windows with Word 2016. In the document on which I'm working, I have the Footnote Text style set to Tahoma, 10 pt for both Latin and Complex Script fonts.

In footnotes that I create myself (e.g., insert footnote and type the text), the complex script text (Hebrew in this case) follows the Footnote Text style properly. When I adjust the complex script portion of the Footnote Text style, the complex script text in these footnotes updates accordingly.

In footnotes that I insert via Zotero, the complex script font face is correct (Tahoma), but the size is off (12 pts). The only method that I've found to reset the complex script font size is to select the Zotero note and do CTRL + Spacebar to reset the styling for that text, but that also wipes out italics and other formatting that Zotero has applied to book titles and other items.

The issue seems to persist even if I (a) recreate the relevant footnotes and (b) open a brand new document, paste in the text I've created, and choose to use destination styles. The Footnote Text style is set via the default template on which new documents are created, and I have Word set to pull in updates to the template into documents that are created based on it.

Would you have any advice for overcoming this issue and getting the complex script (here Hebrew) text in the Zotero-generated footnotes to display at the same font size as the complex script text in other footnotes?

Thank you so much for your thoughts and help!
  • I also had the thought to try reinstalling the Word plugin. But, on doing so, the same behavior persists.

    Thank you, again, for any suggestions you might have.
  • I have seen something similar happen with Khmer script, except on that occasion the wrong Khmer font was selected as well. I wasn't able to get to the bottom of it, unfortunately. Zotero doesn't specify font sizes, so it seems the cause must lie in Word itself. It's probably not a terribly helpful suggestion, but LibreOffice might (might) be more well behaved.
  • Thank you. LibreOffice does properly style the footnotes the whole way through. But, for my situation, I probably need to stay with Word.

    Initially, I was inclined to think it was simply a Word quirk. But, the complex script font handling in non-Zotero notes seems to go perfectly. So, it appears there is some handoff that's being missed between Zotero and Word on this front (very possibly due to something I'm just not seeing in how to set up the styles :-( ).

    I've also noted the same behavior when assigning other fonts (e.g., Arial, SBL BibLit, Times New Roman) to be the complex script font in footnotes.
  • Zotero sends the finished citation block to Word in RTF format, without any font specification. The Word-side glitch seems to be in the way data provided in that form is merged to the document. It's a Microsoft-developed format, so it _should_ work smoothly. I'm not sure how much can be done, unfortunately.
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