Chrome Add-On not saving PDFs/Word Add-On not working

Lamperd
Hi. I'm having trouble figuring out why my zotero sometimes can't grab a PDF when it gets a citation for a JSTOR or Proquest article. It seems like sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. When I click the icon the notification comes up that it's saving to my library and it says it's getting a PDF but then it fails, there's a little red X next to it. It's not because I've exceeded my storage.
Also, since I got the 2015 version of Microsoft Word for Mac I can't get the Zotero plugin to work in Word.
Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?
  • adamsmith
    For the word issue, see here https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_troubleshooting#no_zotero_add-on_visible_in_word_2016 and then follow up in a separate thread with more.

    For ProQuest and JSTOR, there are a couple of reasons this can fail:
    for JSTOR, you need to manually open/download one PDF per session to accept the terms of use. Zotero can't do that for you. That's afaik the only cause of PDF downloads failing -- if you encounter this even after accepting the terms, we'd want a URL exactly as you see it.

    For ProQuest, there are two possible reasons:
    1) PDFs won't download when using a Proxy and Zotero Standalone
    2) I believe ProQuest locks you down when you download too many PDFs too quickly.

    Again, if neither of those two is the reason we'd want a link -- in the case of Proquest we'd want both the ProQuest permalink and the link exactly as you see it.
  • Lamperd
    Thanks for the reply. ProQuest and Jstor problems are now fixed but I'm still having trouble with Word. The Zotero plugin is now showing up in Word, which is good, but it doesn't work. When I try to add a citation it says "Word could not communicate with Zotero. Please ensure that Firefox is open and try again." I've restarted and I've had the stand alone Zotero open and closed and I've had Chrome and Firefox (Chrome is the browser I actually use) open and it doesn't seem to make any difference.
  • adamsmith
    The error message means "Zotero" when it says "Firefox" (that's fixed for the next version), so you can leave Firefox out of this entirely.

    Typically that error message occurs when Zotero.dot is in a startup folder without the right permissions. What's the path of the folder you have it in?
  • Lamperd
    Applications/Office/Startup/Word

  • adamsmith
    Try setting it and copying Zotero.dot to
    ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content/Startup/Word
  • Lamperd
    This might sound silly but, I don't have a Group Containers folder, do I just create one in my library?
  • adamsmith
    You almost certainly should. Note that this is the Library folder in your Home folder
    This answer might help:
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7604226?start=0&tstart=0
  • Lamperd
    Ok, I found it in the secret library folder and have copied the zotero.dot file there, but it's still not working. It's coming up with the same error message that it was before. I've restarted Word and Zotero but it didn't help.
  • adamsmith
    have you also set that as the Word Startup folder?
  • Lamperd
    I hadn't, but now I have and I closed and restarted Word and Zotero and I'm still getting the same error message. Sorry to be taking so much of your time, I appreciate the help.
  • adamsmith
    could you double-check your version of Zotero?
  • Lamperd
    You mean what version? It says it's 4.0.26.3
  • adamsmith
    ah, sorry, I should have checked that first. Update your version of Zotero. You should be at 4.0.29.something
    If "check update" doesn't work, update by reinstalling (your Zotero data won't be affected).
  • Lamperd
    Dang. I updated to the new version and I was so sure it was going to work but I restarted Word and got the same error message!
  • adamsmith
    I'm suspecting it's still using the old Zotero.dot file. Remove that file manually from the startup folders, use "reinstall Word component" from the Cite Tab of Zotero, see if that works.
  • Lamperd
    Yesssss! It worked! Thank you so much!

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