Zotero disappeared form Word ribbon

Hi,

I've been using Zotero for three years now, on a Windoes 10 system and integrated to MS Word 2007.

This afternoon, Zotero disappeared from Word's Ribbon. I didn't do any unusual operation or anything, just closed and reopened Word with the file I was working on.

I tried to reinstall the plugin from the Zotero Preference option a couple of times, to no avail. I tried to manually copy the file into the app/roaming/... folder; the file was still there, but I still copied and replaced it, to no avail again. I tried to reinstall Zotero to its latest version, yet, again, to no avail.

Now I'm stuck. What should I do to be able to get back to work? Thanks.
  • Are the Zotero macros still listed in the under macros in the developer tab? (language might not be precise, unfortunately MS keeps shifting things around in different Word versions; that's where they are in Word 2013/2016)
  • It doesn't seem, no.
  • It seems like the macros is disabled. Do you have macros allowed?
  • Yes, they're already enabled.
  • when you manually open the zotero.dotm file, you're still seeing the toolbar?
    (this isn't a fix, it's just for testing)

    It should, in my understanding, not be possible to have the template in the correct Word startup folder and for the toolbar not to at least show.
  • Ok, I opened the file. Word gave me a message telling me this plugin provoqued an error last time it was activated and asked me if I was sure I wanted to open it again. I answered positively and Zotero reappeared in the toolbar.

    My problems are not over yet, though, as I have to manually open the zotero.dotm file for each new document, and it doesn't work for already existing files (openining the zotero.dotm file opens a new document in Word, but Zotero doesn't reappear in existing files).

    Did I lose all my citations on already existing files?
  • edited February 5, 2018
    This usually doesn't help, but it might be worth reinstalling Zotero and then in Zotero -> Tools -> Preferences -> Cite -> Word Processors reinstalling the Word plugin.
  • "Did I lose all my citations on already existing files?"

    No, don't worry — the temporary unavailibility of the plugin doesn't affect any of your already saved documents in which you cited sources using Zotero.
  • @adomasven: I already did this, as stated in my first post. Didn't work either.

    Thank you for your efforts, everybody. I still can't get this to work, though.
  • Did you try reinstalling Zotero itself before attempting to reinstall the plugin? My guess is that the Zotero.dotm file itself somehow got corrupt on your machine, which is why this is not working.

    If you try to open Zotero.dotm again, do you continue to get that same prompt about an error last time you tried opening it?
  • Yes, i did a new and clean installation of Zotero. I didn't uninstall it first, though. Should I attempt this?
  • No need. Do you get the prompt now every time you try to open Zotero.dotm about an error last time opening the file?
  • No, I only received it the first time.
  • Any idea, anybody?
  • In Word if you go into the Developer tab (you might need to enable it in the preferences) if you click Word Add-ins is Zotero.dotm listed?
  • Yes sorry. After a better informed verification, it does appear (got there by going File > Options > Add-ins, not by the Developer tab, though).
  • Ok, guess it won't work. I' going to make a new, clean installation of Windows (format c:... got other bugs anyway).
  • edited February 11, 2019
    In case someone else with the same problem looks here for an answer, I was having the same problem and the following solution worked in my case:

    The problem was that the zotero extension file was not located in the word startup folder. The following link describes the process:

    https://support.office.com/en-us/article/load-or-unload-a-template-or-add-in-program-2479fe53-f849-4394-88bb-2a6e2a39479d

    Look for the last item on the page titled "Make a template or add-in available whenever you start Word"

    I found the file that needs to be copied to that location in a folder of my zotero installation folder here: Zotero\extensions\zoteroWinWordIntegration@zotero.org\install
  • I had the same problem.

    First I tried these solutions:
    I deleted zotero.dotm in startup, uninstalled zotero and one other plugin I had on word, reinstalled zotero, manually copied zotero.dotm to startup. (probably these didn't help)

    But After trying those, this solution worked for me:
    I enabled developer tab in word> opened addins button in developer tab> in the templates and addins window enabled zotero.dotm.

    I enabled this last one again, since first time I checked it word somehow disabled it by it self.
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