Issues with Zotero in Word, and citation Style Manager

ekrynak
I am using Microsoft Word 2016 and the most recent Zotero update. When I click any of the icons under the zotero tab in word, nothing happens. This occurs with a blank document, and with a document I have previously used with zotero. In addition, within my citation style manager, there are no styles listed. Under Export, the dropdown menu for Default Format only says Loading... with no other options. Reseting the styles does nothing. If I try to add a style through Zotero, it won't let me/nothing happens. If I go through the web page: https://www.zotero.org/styles, I get the message: "This item could not be saved because Zotero is not open or is unreachable. Please open Zotero and try again." Zotero is open, and I have no problem accessing my database.

Not sure these will help or not but here is my error report ID: 1708231488
and debug ID Debug ID D1697564081

Also, up until several months ago, I used to run zotero on firefox, then updated to the stand alone. Word has worked fine since then (up until now), but there is a Zotero tab in word, along with the add-inns tab with zotero icons (what I used to use when Zotero was through firefox only on my system).

Thanks for any help. I'm in the middle of writing my dissertation with hundreds of citations, so this is a bit frustrating. Still love Zotero, want to be able to use it.

Cheers,
Ed
  • dstillman
    [JavaScript Error: "JSON.parse: unterminated fractional number at line 1 column 10 of the JSON data" {file: "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/schema.js" line: 752}]
    It looks like you somehow ended up with bad data related to translators in the database.

    The Zotero beta should allow you to properly reset translators from the preferences, after which you should be able to switch back to the release version. It'd also be a good idea to check your database integrity from the same preference pane.
  • ekrynak
    dstillman, That did not work. I did not run a restart after loading the beta, but did after reloading the current version. I should add, that my zotero data directory location is on my google drive, so that I can access it from my home or work laptop. I occasionally have had issues with sync where I had to go back to an older version of zotero.aqlite. that does not seem to be (but I could be wrong) the case now. I've had more issues with the stand alone then when it was a part of firefox. Also, after resetting translators and resetting styles under the advanced tab/ files and folders, my translators and styles folders were empty. I found those files in my google.drive trash and restored them to see if that would work, but no luck. Also completed a 'Check Database Integrity" and everything was fine. I should also add that my database is huge, almost 2000 items, most with pdfs attached. My zotero.sqlite is 85MB and my 'storage' folder is 3.98 GB, 93,750 files, 3,813 folders. Not sure if any of that plays into the issues I'm having.
  • dstillman
    edited February 5, 2018
    did not run a restart after loading the beta, but did after reloading the current version.
    I'm not really sure what you mean. You have to reset translators after installing the beta, before reinstalling the current version.
    my zotero data directory location is on my google drive, so that I can access it from my home or work laptop
    The data directory absolutely should not be stored in a cloud storage folder, and you'll almost certainly corrupt your database and/or run into problems like this if you do that. We can't provide further help as long as it's there.
  • ekrynak
    What meant was that I restarted my computer after doing what you said, just not between the beta version reset and reloading version 5. I wasn't sure if that was necessary.

    Data is not stored in the cloud, but backed up there. In other words, I do not need to be on line to use zotero, but when I am, my database changes are uploaded. Are you saying backing up my database this way is a bad idea?
  • adamsmith
    The problem is that your database is stored in a folder that syncs between multiple locations (desktop, work, and server) -- that's likely what's causing these issues. Zotero has its own sync functionality for that reason.
  • dstillman
    Once you've moved your data directory out of Google Drive, if you're still having trouble, we'd want to see another Debug ID from the beta after resetting translators and reproducing the original problem.
  • ekrynak
    I'm a graduate student with a family, and a huge database. I was hoping to not spend the money until I have a full time job. If I migrate my database out of Google drive, will You help me then?
  • dstillman
    You don't have spend money. You just can't store your database in Google Drive.

    Zotero data sync is free and unlimited, and if you have more than 300 MB of files there are are other ways to sync them.
  • ekrynak
    Sorry, replied before I saw your last comment. I'll do that first thing tomorrow when I get back to the office.
  • ekrynak
    I have about 4 GB of data in my database. Would you mind making suggestions for other sync options?
  • adamsmith
    edited February 6, 2018
    Here's a list of webDAVs https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/webdav_services they're not endorsed or supported, but all of them have been used successfully by other Zotero users at least at some point. I'm probably seeing box.com used most frequently.

    Here are instructions for webDAV: https://www.zotero.org/support/sync#webdav
    Note this doesn't work for groups, where Zotero file storage is your only option (but groups would've been awkward with google drive, too, so I'm assuming you're not using those).
  • ekrynak
    Adamsmith, thank you, that's great information. Just curious, if I decided to try the linked file storage, is there a way to easily change all my current attachments to a linked file storage? I have over 1000 attached files, to many to do each manually.
  • bwiernik
    I recommend setting up a WebDAV account using the steps listed in the second link. This will be the most reliable setup.

    If you do want to do the linked files method, you should install the Zotfile plugin and use it to move and organize your files in the cloud storage folder (explained in detail in the second link above).
  • ekrynak
    dstillman, I moved my database over to the default zotero location and the word add-inn did not work. I then proceeded as you suggested: Installed the beta version, reset the styles and translators, re-installed version 5. The word Add-in still did not work. I then re-installed the beta version and reported errors and obtained a debugging output listed below. I also checked the integrity of my database and it was fine.

    Report ID 1183937469

    D446542419

    Thanks,
    Ed
  • adamsmith
    You're also still getting these two errors?
    Under Export, the dropdown menu for Default Format only says Loading... with no other options. Reseting the styles does nothing. If I try to add a style through Zotero, it won't let me/nothing happens. If I go through the web page: https://www.zotero.org/styles, I get the message: "This item could not be saved because Zotero is not open or is unreachable. Please open Zotero and try again."
  • ekrynak
    adamsmith, yes same errors/ problems you quoted.
  • ekrynak
    FYI, still in the beta version, as that was the last step dstillman had me on.
  • Gurdas_Sandhu
    @ekrynak: I suggest you at least consider the linked file method. I have been using it for past 4 years with zero problems. You never have to bother about WebDAV and you can use any of your existing systems (Dropbox, Google Drive, MS OneDrive) to keep your attachments in sync over multiple computers. The only drawback is the attachment files will not show up in Zotero.org but it's such a small issue I consider it as a non-issue.
  • ekrynak
    @gurdas, thanks for the post. I plan on looking into both once I get the word add-inn issue solved. Your vote for the linked file method is noted. Thank you.
  • dstillman
    (4)(+0000017): SELECT fileName, metadataJSON FROM translatorCache

    (1)(+0000005): SyntaxError: JSON.parse: unterminated fractional number at line 1 column 10 of the JSON data

    Zotero.Schema</_updateBundledFilesAtLocation<@chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/schema.js:754:18

    (1)(+0000000): 25680449.pdf

    […]

    (1)(+0000002): SyntaxError: JSON.parse: unexpected non-whitespace character after JSON data at line 1 column 5 of the JSON data

    Zotero.Schema</_updateBundledFilesAtLocation<@chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/schema.js:754:18

    (1)(+0000001): 2017-12-28 14:35:05
    Yeah, so your database appears to be in a pretty bad state, I'm afraid, even though it passes tests — you have random other values (filenames, dates, URLs) where translator metadata should be cached. This is almost certainly from having it in Google Drive.

    I've made a change in the latest beta that should hopefully correct this for you, so you can upgrade to the latest version and try again.

    But it's possible you'll run into other issues with this database in the future, so I would recommend rebuilding it via sync: make sure your data is completely in sync, make a complete backup of your data directory, and then delete the zotero.sqlite file and let Zotero sync down all data from the online library.
  • ekrynak
    @dstillman , my database is almost 4 GBs, mainly due to attachments. would i be able to use the zotfile app as mentioned by @gurdas and @bwiernik to move my attachments to a google drive file for storage, then use zotero sync for the rest of the data (which will not be in google drive)? would that allow for my directory to be properly rebuilt through sync? That should significantly reduce the amount of data that needs to be synced through zotero's sync..
  • adamsmith
    would i be able to use the zotfile app as mentioned by @gurdas and @bwiernik to move my attachments to a google drive file for storage, then use zotero sync for the rest of the data (which will not be in google drive)? would that allow for my directory to be properly rebuilt through sync?
    yes, you just need to fix the database by syncing. The stored files aren't the problem You don't even have to use the linking/ZotFile solution (which doesn't work for snapshots, btw.): you can just keep a copy of the storage folder in a different location and place it back into the data folder after the database is restored from sync. The restored database will find the attachments since their location staid the same.
  • ekrynak
    Awesome. I tried the newest beta version and that did not fix the issue. I then temporarily moved my storage to another file, synced my data, uninstalled Zotero (just as another measure of starting over), installed the latest version of Zotero, and synced my data. Everything works great now including the Word Add-in. I'll work on placing my saved attachments using either the linked/zotfile method or WebDAV soon so I can use my database between home and office. At least now I can finish the citation in my data chapter-2. Thank you everyone for all the help.
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