Microsoft word: Runtime error '13' when pressing any zotero button

Chewy
I'm using zotero for 2 weeks now. Using foldershare to keep my library up2date on my home and work pc.
Yesterday at home I worked on a document in Microsoft Word dutch version (i believe version 2003). This was the first time I installed the zotero Word plugin on that pc. So I added some references.
Now today I tried to edit the same document here at work, with microsoft word english version (version 2002 sp3). But everytime I press any button of zotero I get the visual basic error: runtime error '13' 'type mismatch'.
In a new document the zotero plugin seems to be working fine. Also adding new references to the zotero libary within firefox works just fine.

What to do?
  • dstillman
    See Debugging Broken Documents.
  • Chewy
    Hmm, didn't see that last part... But is there a way to prevent this from happening? I do need to work at home on this report as well as at work? And every time it gets broken..
  • dstillman
    The point of the Debugging Broken Documents section is to produce test cases that we can fix.
  • fon
    Hello,

    I had the exame problem. Copied my zotero files over to my laptop. Zotero itself worked, but in word the plugin gave the runtime 13 error.

    Copying all the content of the word file to a new one solved it. But what makes me wondering is that the size went from 204kb down to 150. I could´t find any differences other then the tables where messed up. I copied over the right ones, but still the difference in size.

    Question is..is it okay or should I check something more through? Whats the cause?

    thanks!

    fon
  • fon
    As no one other might have made a Report: 674555855.

    fon
  • dstillman
    As no one other might have made a Report: 674555855.
    No Zotero errors there.
  • fon
    Wow fast reply :) what does that mean? And any guess on the document size ?
  • dstillman
    It means it's not an obvious bug in Zotero itself, though there may still be a problem with the fields that Zotero and the Word plugin are generating in some situations. (It could also be a Word bug outside of our control.) The Debugging Broken Documents steps could help us figure out what's going on and potentially help us work around it.

    The file size change is likely just related to how Word fast-saves documents and not due to any loss of data.
  • sammyekek
    I had followed every step mentioned in the debugging section above, but the thing is I can't even click on any Zotero button. I always see the same error message. Here is the ID : 1438660497

    If I open a new page, thing works fine, but I just can't get Zotero to work on my existing document.
  • dstillman
    sammyekek: Did you do Step 6 of the Debugging Broken Documents section? You should be able to narrow the problem down to a particular part (or multiple parts) of your document by copying sections into a new document.
  • sammyekek
    edited March 17, 2009
    Thanks Dan for the reply. I did follow every step mentioned in the Debugging Broken Document section.

    The thing is when I copy either a small portion of the document or the whole document to a brand new Word blank document, Zotero works perfectly - eg. I can cite new references and even edit the existing one. Yet it seems to me that the solution is to copy everything in the existing document and past it to a new one (not the .doc file itself, but its content) every time i work on different PCs, but I can't always do that cos I have to do the margin set up, re-input the template for style and format and the document is just getting bigger everyday.

    Is there anything to do with the MS Office version? I'm using French version of MS Word 2002 at work and English version of MS Word 2003/2007 at home.
  • sammyekek
    I will try installing French version of MS Office on my PC at home and see if it works. I'll report back later.
  • sammyekek
    Hi everyone! I'm back to give you some reports :)
    Well apparently, my problem is due to the different versions of Microsoft word that I have on my PC at work and at home.

    I installed the french version of Office XP on my home PC and everything works fine. It means that I can work on the same document at my workplace and at home, using the sync option of Zotero 1.5

    Hope that can be useful to other users who encountered the same problem.

    Later!
  • io
    i had the same "mistake 13" when trying to add a citation, and was able to "solve" it just by copying the whole text into a new file, now i am able to add citations

    however, when trying to insert a citation or a bibliography in this new file i get an error message saying:
    "This citation no longer exists in the zotero database. Delete it?"
    this message for all the citations in the text

    i am working with two computers, in one ms word is installed in italian, in the other in english

    the computer where ms word is in english is where zotero has problems:
    microsoft word office 2003
    windows xp
  • michelhaller
    I have the same problem: "runtime error 13" "type mismatch", and I think I have found the cause for it.

    I have the German version of Word on my office PC, the English one on my laptop. I killed the zotero.dot on my laptop and copied the VBA code into a VBA module of the very document where I had the problem. Then I executed the InsertCitation Sub from within the VBA project in order to see in which line the error occurs and why. It appears that in the function fnGetPrefs(), second last assignment: "ZoteroUseBookmarks = mPrefs(5)" is the problem. ZoteroUseBookmarks is Boolean and expects "False" or "True" in the English version, but it gets "Falsch" from the Settings that were made in another Language then English -> type mismatch is the result. From this I conclude that you will get rid of the problem by:
    a) installing the same language of word on all your computers, or...
    b) programming some kind of conversion between the two (or more) languages in the VBA code of the Zotero.dot.
  • michelhaller
    An even quicker way of solving this problem is:
    a) open the document that causes the problem
    b) choose from the menu: file->properties
    c) choose the tabsheet "custom" and under "Properties" click on ZOTERO_PREF_1. Now you see a string entry under "value". If the last entry in this colon-seperated series of strings is anything else than "True" or "False", change it to "True" or "False".
    d) close the dialog and try again to insert a citation.

    This worked for me in an English Version of Word. I think it should work in all languages, otherwise it might be worth trying the translation of "True" or "False" to these other languages.
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