Creating citations manually: data entry problem

PeterJLor · December 27, 2017

I'm using Zotero version 5.0.33 on a very stable Windows 7 laptop. My database is approaching 7000 items. Ever since I upgraded to Zotero version 5, I've had problems inputting bibliographic data manually. To enter data in a field, I position the cursor in that field, and it is highlighted pale blue. Then I click, the blue is replaced by white, and I start typing. Next thing I look on the screen and the field has gone blue again, and no data has been entered. I have to click two or three times to make sure the field does not go blue again. When moving on to the next data field I also have to be extra careful nowadays, as the newly entered data quite often disappears.

I've been (gratefully!) using Zotero since 2010, and although manual data entry has always been a bit tricky, this is now much worse. Is it only happening to me? In my field I still have to use manual data entry for a substantial number of items. This problem slows me down, so I would appreciate some help.

But I'm happy to wait until after New Year's day for an answer, and wish all the Zotero developers and experts who answer questions on this forum, a very happy, prosperous and, above all, peaceful 2018.

dstillman · December 27, 2017

Can you provide a Debug ID that shows this happening?

PeterJLor · December 28, 2017

Thanks!

It's tricky, because it does not always happen, It's unpredictable, but here is one event:
I clicked on "# of pages" and this field was suddenly highlighted in blue as I started typing.
The ID is D92648692

Here is another event: Having finished typing in the title, I clicked on "Author (last)" and the cursor jumped to the "Edition" field. The ID is D1455513655.

One more clue. This does not happen if I use the TAB key to go to the next field.

Hope you can make some sense of this.

dstillman · December 29, 2017

OK, so to clarify, the fields' "turning blue" isn't relevant. That's just the hover effect when you put your cursor over any field. What matters here is whether the fields are in edit mode or not.

So for this:

Having finished typing in the title, I clicked on "Author (last)" and the cursor jumped to the "Edition" field.

There's a current issue where, when you make a change to a field and click directly to another field, the pane refreshes and the field you just clicked in becomes switches out of edit mode. (The cursor happens to end up over Edition, but that's irrelevant.) We'll try to fix this in an upcoming version. In the meantime, as you noticed, if you use Tab to move between fields or press Enter before clicking on another field, this doesn't happen.

I clicked on "# of pages" and this field was suddenly highlighted in blue as I started typing.

It's not clear to me whether you're describing the same issue here, where you're clicking directly from another edited field. (But again, the relevant part isn't the blue highlight, but rather that you're being switched out of edit mode unexpectedly.)

PeterJLor · January 2, 2018

Many thanks for the explanation, dstillman. It is helpful to know what the cause of a problem is. (The second example was just a variant of the same problem. And I did realize that the cursor landing on "Edition" was in itself irrelevant. I was merely trying to give you a complete description of what was happening.)

I often edit existing items, so it is really awkward to use the TAB key to reach the field I have to add or correct . Data entry is an important function. I look forward to the upcoming version in which this will be fixed.