Zotero and Ulysses

jerryplotnick · October 8, 2017

I'm trying to determine if it's possible to use Zotero with Ulysses without experiencing too much pain. It seems that the only available route is to use RTF/ODF Scan. The following page provides directions to convert RTF.

http://zotero-odf-scan.github.io/zotero-odf-scan/

I've installed the LibreOffice plug-in. However, the file

zotero-odf-scan-v2.0.34-fx.xpi

at

https://github.com/Juris-M/zotero-odf-scan-plugin/releases/tag/v2.0.34

doesn't open on a Mac, even though the ODF scan is, if I understand correctly, of primary benefit to users of Scrivener and Ulysses.

Suggestions?

Question: Ulysses appears now to export to ODF. Does it do so in such a way as to make Ulysses and Zotero work reasonably well together?

adamsmith · October 9, 2017

When you say "doesn't open on a Mac" -- what do you mean exactly. You'd have to download the file, then install it from Tools-->Add-ons in Zotero. You wouldn't open it by itself.

The fact that Ulysses now exports ODF will make the scan workflow a little smoother (you're essentially saving one step) but otherwise it changes relatively little.

jerryplotnick · October 9, 2017

I thought that zotero-odf-scan-v2.0.34-fx.xpi was an executable file, but I see that it must be added. It's somewhat confusing because the documentation is out of date and so only seems to fit loosely what one sees in 5.0.

I still am not where I need to be, however.

I believe I successfully added the RTF/ODF Scan.

Here's what I see in the Add-Ons Manager:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mizf5nallq1d4jv/zotero add-ons manager.png?dl=0

According to the instructions at

http://zotero-odf-scan.github.io/zotero-odf-scan/

"To generate citation markers in Zotero for Firefox or Zotero Standalone, first set the Default Output Format for Quick Copy to Scannable Cite in the Export tab of the Zotero Preferences."

However, in the Export tab, I see no Scannable Cite. I see the following:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nn5yevtjbv3rl0l/zotero citation styles available.png?dl=0

Am I missing a step?

The instructions say that "Installing the RTF/ODF-Scan add-on will add a Scannable Cite export translator to the Zotero client and change the RTF Scan option to RTF/ODF Scan." That doesn't seem to have happened. RTF Scan has remained RTF Scan, and the citations don't match the following format:

{ | Smith, (2012) | | |zu:2433:WQVBH98K}

adamsmith · October 9, 2017

We're apparently having problems getting Scannable Cite installed by the add-on. You can manually do so following these steps:
https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/280155/#Comment_280155
(Zotero data directory there refers to https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data )
and restarting Zotero

jerryplotnick · October 9, 2017

Thanks, but I'm still not there yet.The instructions on the earlier post are as follows: "you can just manually download from
https://github.com/Juris-M/zotero-odf-scan-plugin/raw/master/resource/translators/Scannable Cite.js and install by placing it in the translators forlder in the Zotero data directory."

I wasn't sure how I manually download, but I copied the code on the webpage and pasted it into a duplicate of RTF.js in the translators folder, renamed as RTF/ODF.js. (Text edit didn't like my saving a new file with a js extension, but it accepted a manipulated js file that already existed with that extension.)

RTF/ODF still doesn't exist in the list of formats, and when I clicked the + button to add one, all of the .js files, the new one included, were greyed out.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q40i0u7hnhhu3cg/RTF:ODF greyed out.png?dl=0

adamsmith · October 9, 2017

Download: right-click --> save link as
on
https://github.com/Juris-M/zotero-odf-scan-plugin/raw/master/resource/translators/Scannable Cite.js

adamsmith · October 9, 2017

(and you'll want to delete the file you added. Also, you need to restart Zotero to see the translator)

jerryplotnick · October 9, 2017

Sorry, I'm just not seeing what I'm supposed to be doing.

When I go to https://github.com/Juris-M/zotero-odf-scan-plugin/raw/master/resource/translators/Scannable Cite.js

I see this

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n4b1xj79x6ua31j/zotero js page.png?dl=0

Where do I right click? It's a web page. The I right click on the page I see this:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/l8xfri0ob5k55h1/zotero right click menu.png?dl=0

adamsmith · October 9, 2017

no, you right-click on the link I post above. It goes straight to the file to download.

adamsmith · October 9, 2017

As in https://imgur.com/a/iZQhs

jerryplotnick · October 9, 2017

Thanks for the clarification. Scannable Cite now appears.

sebastian_ · March 18, 2018

I currently using the same approach...
Export as Word file, Open LibreOffice to save as .odt, Run ODT Scan...
I would love to see a Zotero plugin for Ulysses, which would make this process a lot easier.
Anything new on this?

emilianoeheyns · April 7, 2018

So this works in Zotero 5 then? I get an error popup and Zotero quits after that. If it's supposed to work in Z5 I can look into it further.

adamsmith · April 7, 2018

ODF Scan works in Zotero 5, yes

emilianoeheyns · April 7, 2018

ODF scan and BBT don't like each other. If I install BBT, then ODFscan, no problem, everything works, but at startup after that I get https://imgur.com/a/mC4tR

emilianoeheyns · April 7, 2018

Wait, it's some kind of race condition. On a clean profile the combo starts up fine, but on my production profile (some 4k refs) I get this error.

fbennett · April 7, 2018

Is your production instance running against a data directory in the default location? Maybe default/custom is significant.

emilianoeheyns · April 8, 2018

Custom location. I always use custom locations because I don't want to run the risk of inadvertently running my test suite against my production datadir.

fbennett · April 8, 2018

That's the way I run also, so that wouldn't explain it.

emilianoeheyns · April 8, 2018

ODF scan doesn't wait for schemaUpdatePromise to clear (https://groups.google.com/d/msg/zotero-dev/QYNGxqTSpaQ/hzOv5FI4CwAJ), could that be part of the problem?

I've started Zotero using "/home/emile/bin/zotero/zotero -P PhD -ZoteroDebugText -datadir profile > ~/.odfscan.log 2>&1", and I'm getting this log: https://gist.github.com/retorquere/cfde0130094a166e0bb8fd0979bf9f59 , no mention of ODF scan anywhere. I still get the same popup. If I look in the line that the popup mentions, ODF scan is trying to get the Zotero object:

Zotero = Cc["@zotero.org/Zotero;1"]
.getService(Ci.nsISupports)
.wrappedJSObject;

the error consistently happens at that point. I can't send a regular debug log since this popup comes locks the UI, and either one of the options "quit" or "check for updates" quits Zotero before I can do anything else.

fbennett · April 8, 2018

Many thanks - I'll take a look in the next few days. May come back for advice on the wait condition,, that sounds very much like it may be the problem.

emilianoeheyns · April 8, 2018

If I move "translatorInstallObserver.register();" to the end of "changeButtonText", ODF scan starts without errors.

fbennett · April 8, 2018

Oh! Will try that, and push later, after I'm properly awake.

emilianoeheyns · April 8, 2018

It must be a timing issue. Bootstrapped extensions don't have any guarantees on their load order, so if you're successfully getting the Zotero object during startup, that's mostly luck.

The schemapdatepromise is a separate issue, but if waiting for init() works for you, that's OK right?

emilianoeheyns · April 8, 2018

This would also explain why it works if I first install. Zotero is guaranteed to be up and running at that point.