Multiple popups for the same citation from the same zotero group library

sharachchandra
I don't know if this problem has already been reported, but I have noticed weird behaviour in the latest version of the Word plugin (with zotero 5.0.33). When I search for references using some combination of author name, year and keyword, I sometimes get multiple pop-ups for the same entry. E.g., if I have Lambin et al 2012 entered in group library PEFESPA, then when I click "add citation" in Word and type in "Lambin" "2012" and the keyword "trade" in the lookup window, it pops up multiple instances of the same entry from the same group library. See https://goo.gl/sj3ppT for a screenshot.

Never had this problem in the earlier version.
  • adomasven
    Could you produce a Debug ID from Zotero?

    1. In the Help menu, go to Debug Output Logging and select Enable.
    2. In Word click Add/Edit citation and type "Lambin 2012 trade". Wait for the entries to pop-up, then close the citation window.
    3. Before doing anything else, return to Help → Debug Output Logging and click Submit Output, which will disable logging and submit the output to zotero.org. A window should pop up containing a Debug ID. Click “Copy to Clipboard” and paste the Debug ID into this forum thread.
  • sharachchandra
    Have submitted a debug report. ID = D1971301397

    You will see two attempts to look for "Lambin 2012 trade". One in my existing document where it has already been cited once and one in a fresh blank document. The error showed up more clearly when in the blank document.

    Also, I am wondering if there is some setting now for how the Word plugin searches for references: it appears to throw up references that don't contain all the phrases in the search.

    As a result (or for whatever reason) the search process has really slowed down: it says "loading cited items" even when I start with a blank document, and takes a few seconds to show anything.
  • adomasven
    Does this happen only for some items in this group, but not others? Anything specific to this item, like belonging to multiple collections, tags, multiple attachments, etc?
  • sharachchandra
    No, this is now happening for many items. Also the other problem that I mentioned: items getting selected which don't meet the "AND" requirements but seem to meet an "OR" requirement, which is not how searches in the Word window went earlier. I search for author space author space year, and it pops up all items that meet author and author without matching the year: See https://goo.gl/yQqwTA
  • sharachchandra
    If there is a way to rollback versions and see if the problem goes away, that would help.
  • dstillman
    Does this happen if you paste in the search string (i.e., enter it in a single action), or only if you type it, pausing briefly between letters?
  • sharachchandra
    Dan, you are right: it does not happen if I paste the search string in a single action. But did not use to happen earlier when typing, and I suppose one cannot be expected to be pasting the search string each time?
  • sharachchandra
    Could having installed two versions of Word (2010 and 2013) simultaneously be contributing to this?
  • dstillman
    edited January 5, 2018
    No, it's likely just related to how database access works in 5.0 — whereas a database query used to freeze the UI, it now runs in the background. The search kicks in 1/4-second after you stop typing, and I'd guess that with a large-enough database the search takes enough time that results from an earlier search could come in after a later one and mess things up.

    So the alternative to pasting, if you're seeing this, would just be to either type more quickly or wait for results to update after you stop typing before typing more, though obviously neither of those is a permanent solution.

    We'll try to fix this for the next release.
  • bwiernik
    Those fixes would likely also address https://github.com/zotero/zotero/issues/1349 ?
  • dstillman
    This should be fixed in the latest 5.0 Beta, and the fix will be included in 5.0.34 within a few days.
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