Error message when trying to footnote sources
I've been recently receiving the following error message when trying to create footnotes in the most recent version of Word from my Zotero library.
Zotero could not load the component required to communicate with your word processor. Please ensure that the appropriate extension is installed and try again.
Here are some relevant factors:
1. I'm using a university computer. Is it possible they have settings that are blocking me?
2. I've tried obtaining a few extensions from Zotero's list of plug-ins and extensions, but I'm probably missing something. If there is something to solve the problem, can you take me right to it (a webapage with the extension/plug-in)?
3. I'm also transitioning from Zotero Standalone to cloud-based. My standalone library has been imported.
4. At home I have Word 2013 and it uses "add-ins," while the more recent version of Word that I have at school is from Word 2016, and the tab on Word says "Zotero," not "add-ins." Could that be an issue?
5. I've tried using Firefox and Chrome. Does it matter if they are both open at the same time?
Zotero could not load the component required to communicate with your word processor. Please ensure that the appropriate extension is installed and try again.
Here are some relevant factors:
1. I'm using a university computer. Is it possible they have settings that are blocking me?
2. I've tried obtaining a few extensions from Zotero's list of plug-ins and extensions, but I'm probably missing something. If there is something to solve the problem, can you take me right to it (a webapage with the extension/plug-in)?
3. I'm also transitioning from Zotero Standalone to cloud-based. My standalone library has been imported.
4. At home I have Word 2013 and it uses "add-ins," while the more recent version of Word that I have at school is from Word 2016, and the tab on Word says "Zotero," not "add-ins." Could that be an issue?
5. I've tried using Firefox and Chrome. Does it matter if they are both open at the same time?
(on 4 and 5 the answer is no, that's fine)
Zotero could not load the component required to communicate with your word processor. Please ensure that the appropriate extension is installed and try again.
https://www.zotero.org/support/sync
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "the cloud-based version". There is no cloud-based version of Zotero with Word integration. There is a Firefox add-on, but that's no more cloud based than Standalone: data are stored locally and sync to the Zotero servers. Especially as you work on different computers, that's important to keep in mind: data will not be available on different computers unless you sync successfully.
If you prefer using the Firefox version, make sure you have the word integration installed: https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_installation
If that works for you, I'd honestly leave it at that. If you do want to get the Firefox version to work, I can run you through more troubleshooting steps.
1) Zotero Standalone
2) Zotero for Firefox
Both do almost exactly the same thing and work the same way. The Standalone version also comes with connectors for other browsers, but those connectors alone only allow saving things, they don't provide any other functionality.
You do need either 1) or 2) to work with a word processor, and either of them would need to sync in order for libraries to be available on multiple machines.