Are you sure that you have 15.41 and not the Insider (Beta) version installed? The current Insider version does mess with user templates and doesn’t consistently work with Add-ins (including Zotero).

Hi Adam, I think I totally messed it up. When I open Word It says word can not open the existing template (normal.dotm). What exactly is supposed to be in this template area? sorry, not tech person at all this is like another language to me. Thanks!

@Bweirnik, I can't find /Users/[username]/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content/Startup/Word in Finder. I know it is in there somewhere how do I find it?
Also, I do not know what a ribbon or macro is, so I don't know if I completely messed them up already.

Hi @dstillman sorry, I still haven't resolved this issue got caught up with something else. So now when I got to Word and open the Developer and go tow Word Ad-ins, I see zotero there so I check that. When I open macros they are there, but I can't actually use them. They do not show up on any toolbars. Then when I go to quit Word it says "Changes have been made that affect the global template, . Do you want to save those changes?" So I hit save, then it says "Do you want to replace the existing Normal.dotm?", I hit save and it says "You cannot save while the file is in use by another process. Try saving the file with a new name. (Normal.dotm)". Then I get worried that I am going to totally screw up Word and I cancel the whole thing. Do you know what I need to do to fix this? I really love Zotero and want to use it! Thanks!

Jennie

Deleting your current Normal.dotm file (as described above) and then reinstalling Word Plugin from Zotero -> Preferences -> Cite -> Word Plugins should be a good start. Otherwise try following https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_troubleshooting#tab_does_not_appear_in_word_2016 again

Is there anyway to address this over the phone? It just seems easier if I can talk to you instead of posting comments. thanks

There is no phone support, sorry.

Normal.dotm is the default template Word uses when you open a blank document. It is where all of your user settings are stored by Word (e.g., keyboard shortcuts, Ribbon customization, default fonts, etc.).

Close Word and open this folder on your computer:
/Users/[username]/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content/Startup/Word

Delete Normal.dotm. Then, in Zotero, open Zotero -> Preferences -> Cite -> Word Plugins and reinstall the Word plugin.

Now, re-open Word. Word should open fine (it will create a new Normal.dotm file on its own) and should show the Zotero tab.

If the Zotero tab is still missing, then please follow these instructions again: https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_troubleshooting#tab_does_not_appear_in_word_2016

OK, tried, but still not working. I deleted Normal.dotm, but it is back once I opened word (no messages came up this time though). When I go to Finder and Go OPen the folder /Users/[username]/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content/Startup/Word it sends me to Users, not sure what to do from there with that. Still didn't work so then I followed the instructions below. PLEASE SEE MY COMMENTS WHICH ARE IN ALL CAPS


Word for Mac 2016
In Finder, press Cmd-Shift-G and navigate to
/Applications/Zotero.app/Contents/Resources/extensions/zoteroMacWordIntegration@zotero.org/install
where you can find a copy of the Zotero.dotm file.
----
I WAS ABLE TO FIND THIS ZOTERO.DOTM FILE, SO THAT WORKED.
-----
Find your Word startup folder by following the instructions below. You should now have two folders open: the Word startup folder and the “install” folder containing Zotero.dotm.
Copy the Zotero.dotm file to your Word Startup folder. (Be sure to copy the file rather than moving it.)
----
SO HERE I OPENED UP THE STARTUP IS ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content/Startup/Word
BUT I CAN'T COPY THE ZOTERO.DOTM FILE, IF I WANT TO MODIFY THE STARTUP I NEED TO OPEN A FILE, AND THEN I CAN'T FIND THE ZOTERO.DOTM.

Start (or restart) Microsoft Word to begin using the plugin.

So everything is working now?

NOOO, wait it's not. Now when I add a citation and I go to choose which style it says "The style you have selected does not appear to be valid. If you have created this style yourself, please ensure that it passes validation as described at https://github.com/citation-style-language/styles/wiki/Validation. Alternatively, try selecting another style."

Oddly enough, if I open up an old document in my old Word I can edit and add citations and bibliographies, if they were already there

Ok, also tried to close and restart everything and when I went to restart zotero it said "You are about to sync the ‘jennieery’ account to an empty Zotero database. This could happen if you removed your previous database or if the location of your Zotero data directory changed.

If your Zotero data exists elsewhere on this computer, you should move it to the current data directory or change the data directory location to point to your existing data."

So I panicked and obviously closed it. I can't looks all that!

Ok, getting close. With re-opening of Word it is now working, and styles are working. But, now I have any empty zotero (still have all of my library on the website though). Before I click "change data directory" I just want to be sure I am not going to wipe my entire zotero library, which is my biggest fear

I didn't do anything to Zotero that I know of. I just quit and restarted it.

Data directory says default (users/jennieery/Zotero)

Either you moved or deleted your database somehow or there are some serious problems on your computer (which also sounds possible, given your earlier problems in Word). Simply restarting Zotero should never cause you to lose your database.

First, make a complete backup of /Users/jennieery/Zotero. Then, what are the names, sizes, and timestamps of all zotero.sqlite* files in that directory?