Zotero keeps modifying citations

Melikesayoglu
Hi, I need your help with a problem and would really appreciate if you could help me figure out what I am doing wrong or what I need to do differently. When I make new entries, or make changes to existing ones, Zotero keeps going over the other citations and keeps asking:
"You have modified this citation since Zotero generated it. Do you want to keep your modifications and prevent future updates?
Clicking "yes" will prevent Zotero from updating this citation if you add additional citations, switch styles, or modify the item to which it refers. Clicking "no" will erase your changes."
I click "yes" in order not to lose my most up-to-date entries, but then Zotero keeps asking this question for other entries.
I have a 56-second video of one of the times it happened. I cannot continue working on the document because sooner or later, I keep getting these messages. Please help me figure out how to handle this situation without losing the information I've already entered in the document.
Thank you very much!
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  • Melikesayoglu
    I could not find an e-mail address to send the video to, or could not find a way to upload the video here. But if you want, I can get you the video.
  • adamsmith
    Are you using track changes in the document? Sometimes that causes problems.

    Are you manually changing citations (i.e. changing them in Word rather than changing the citation style or the underlying data in Zotero)?
  • Melikesayoglu
    Track changes is off.

    I am not changing them manually--I use the Zotero add in to make changes.
  • Melikesayoglu
    In the video I took, for instance, I was adding page numbers to an existing citation. And then what I described above happened. Once again.
  • adamsmith
    Have you gone through just answering "yes" to the question as long as it comes up? This has nothing to do with the citation you're editing at that particular point -- it's just an effect of Zotero updating citations when you're inserting a new one (or editing an old one)
  • Melikesayoglu
    Yes, I've tried answering "yes." Either I lose some pages that I've entered to these citations, or citation changes (lets's say originally there was only article title in the citation, but I added the author info later. Such citations turn back into title citation, even though author info was entered. Or let's say, there was "n.d." originally, and I added the year and corrected the citation. The year gets lost again when I say yes.
  • bwiernik
    It sounds like you are editing the citations directly in Word/LibreOffice. You need to edit citations either by modifying the item in Zotero (for changes like "n.d.") or using the page number/prefix/suffix fields in the Zotero citation dialog. (See here: https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_usage). If you modify the citations just by editing the text in Word/LibreOffice, Zotero can't keep automatically updating the citations, and you will get the warnings you see.
  • Melikesayoglu
    One thing I'm clear about is that I do not make direct changes to the citations. I use the Zotero "edit citation" button to add page numbers, or add suffix/prefixes. For those title vs. author changes that I mentioned above, I deleted the incorrect citation and entered it again using the Zotero "insert citation" tab.
  • adamsmith
    If you start a new document and just insert a couple of sample citations, does any of this happen?

    Under Set Document Preferences in the Word add-on, what exactly are your settings?

    Could you try running through steps 2-6 here: https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_troubleshooting#debugging_broken_documents (we've checked 1 and the last steps are a lot more time consuming)
  • Melikesayoglu
    No, it does not happen when I start a new document.

    The settings are as follows:
    Citation Style: Chicago Manual of Style 16th Edition (author-date)
    Language: English
    Format Using: Fields is highlighted
    Store references in document is marked

    I've deleted the citations that Zotero changed as I described above, and entered them correctly from my library, along with page numbers and prefixes/suffixes. It was time consuming, but at least Zotero stopped doing it. I'll start working on a new document that has multiple Zotero entries already. If the same problem occurs, I'll then try the steps in the link and update you.

    Thank you!
  • Melikesayoglu
    Hi Again!

    Here I am with the same problem: I entered sources using Zotero into a document. All was fine until my colleagues made new additions to the document and added some new sources (using Zotero). Once I got the document back from my colleagues and wanted to make some more changes, I kept receiving the same message (see below), and clicked on "yes." Zotero kept on asking and asking. In the end, some of the earlier sources I added had missing page numbers, or their author information was replaced with article title, or some prefixes were gone, or some citations that I edited using "show editor" went back to their initial format. We're all using the Chicago Author-Date format, but for some reason, Zotero starts going through the whole document and making some kind of change to almost all the citations. Any help would be appreciated. Let me note, we are not using track changes, or manually entering sources. In the same document, there are also citations that were entered using Mendeley. My colleague suggested that it may be a Zotero-Mendeley clash. We are not sure how there would be clash between these two though.

    *The message is: You have modified this citation since Zotero generated it. Do you want to keep your modifications and prevent future updates?
    Clicking "yes" will prevent Zotero from updating this citation if you add additional citations, switch styles, or modify the item to which it refers. Clicking "no" will erase your changes."
  • Melikesayoglu
    edited March 1, 2017
    @adamsmith I posted this a few days ago and got no response - but have heard you really helped a friend who uses zotero in the past. I hope you'll help me figure out a solution with this.
    Thank you!
  • adamsmith
    yeah, I'm not suprised that working in the same document with Zotero and Mendeley breaks things. They use very similar, but not identical ways to embed citations in documents.
  • vicky jassey
    Hello, I have had the same issue as the first Melikesayoglu January 25, 2017. This issue has only come about in the last few months. I've been using zotero for four years. I need to be able to edit my citations (often removing the bracket to separate the name, leaving only date in brackets for example). This never used to be an issue now I have to keep going through this time-consuming processes. Is there something I can turn off/on to prevent having to go through this processes repeatedly on a 300 page thesis?
  • adamsmith
    There's a lot going on in this thread. Could you say exactly what's you're doing and what problem you're having?
  • vicky jassey
    Sure. Often when I am inserting a citation Zotero has begun asking: "You have modified this citation since Zotero generated it. Do you want to keep your modifications and prevent future updates?" It then takes me through the whole document. individually going over each citation asking me the same question. This process is recent, it didn't happen before. As I mentioned in my last message, Is there something I can turn off/on to prevent having to go through this processes repeatedly on a 300 page thesis?
  • adamsmith
    So you're saying clicking "Yes" once doesn't work? It will ask you again for the same citation? Which Word version exactly?

    Note that what you're doing to generate author (year) citations isn't recommended:
    https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_usage#customizing_cites
  • vicky jassey
    Ok thanks for pointing that out. Something must have changed without me knowing because I have been editing citations like this for years. I am using Word 2011 14.7.7
  • adamsmith
    What about the first part, though? I'd expect for you to have to click "Yes" once for every citation you've modified, but only once ever. Does Zotero return to citations again after you've confirmed "Yes" for them?
  • vicky jassey
    I can't answer that at the moment for sure. I think so but will monitor more closely. I have clicked "Yes" for each modification. This is made more confusing because I have just had to consolidate all my chapters into one document. However, I now appear to have a new problem even more serious. The new file (with consolidated chapters) that I need to begin working on, is no longer allowing me to add citations. In trying to fix the original problem, outlined in my initial enquiry, I went to preferences and changed a couple of things fairly randomly and I don't know if this is now preventing me from adding citations. I did the following. RE-installed word pluggin. Changed Bib Tex to Better Bib Tex. Updated translators and styles (in advanced). Any suggestions?
  • adamsmith
    What exactly is happening when you try to add citations?
  • vicky jassey
    The 'z' icon' flashes but then nothing happens.
  • bwiernik
    What "Z" icon do you mean?
  • vicky jassey
    "Z" is the zotero icon in the menu bar.
  • emilianoeheyns
    How does BBT figure in to this?
  • adamsmith
    almost certainly not, it's just an installed add-on.
  • swdr
    I have a question about modifying citations.

    When I need to modify a citation in a word document for Chicago author-date style, I click inside the citation-->add/edit citation-->then add page number or surpress author (for example)-->click okay.

    I am not editing the citations inside the word document. However, sometimes I get this message:

    *The message is: You have modified this citation since Zotero generated it. Do you want to keep your modifications and prevent future updates?
    Clicking "yes" will prevent Zotero from updating this citation if you add additional citations, switch styles, or modify the item to which it refers. Clicking "no" will erase your changes."

    I have clicked no because the changes I made were generated using Zotero (not manually using word) and I want all my citations updated automatically, because I have a lot of documents authored by the same individual.

    Was that the correct choice? I am concerned that I have chosen the wrong option and my citations do not reflect the page updates or author edits (for example) that I generated using Zotero.

    I would be grateful for any clarification.
  • adamsmith
    I don't know why that message comes up for you, but using edit citation and then adding page numbers or affixes shouldn't cause it and those changes won't be overwritten when you select "no" in said message, so you should be good.

    Modifying the citation refers to doing so directly in Word or in the editor window of the "classic" citation dialog.
  • swdr
    Thank you for your response.

    What is the "classic" citation citation dialog? I think I am using the classic editor window of Zotero (https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_usage_classic) because I don't use the little red box to insert things (as shown here https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_usage).

    Should I have clicked "Yes" because I use the classic dialogue?
  • adamsmith
    Only if you used the "Show Editor" option in that view.
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