Zotero changes the actual citation
Sometimes I amend the citation in word, and then accept changes. This change in formatting is often lost even though I accept changes (this has been noted on the forum before). More worrying is that sometimes Zotero changes the citation altogether. I've caught it doing this a number of times, most recently from an 1894 paper to a 2015 paper by completely different authors. I don't know why it does this. Very concerning.
This discussion has been closed.
Zotero wouldn't ever change the citation to a different item. What likely happened there, was that you or a coauthor moved citations around during your edits.
Generally, the procedure you want to follow is to be sure that you always delete a reference's text in its entirety if you want to delete a citation and to use Zotero for all edits to the citations (e.g., to replace a citation with one to a different paper, to add page numbers or "e.g.,", etc., or to correct mispelled author names). If you move a citation from one spot in the document to another, be sure that you grab all of the text (parentheses and all) as you go.
Besides the bibliographic data shown, look specifically at the “id” data in the code. Does that change?
If the item codes have changed, can you submit a Debug Log from the Zotero Help menu for an attempt to insert a citation that causes this change?
I've just caught it doing it again. What happens is I try to insert a citation, and it fails for some unknown reason, and I get the following error report:
"Zotero experienced an error updating your document.
Document modified during update @[setCode:field.m:660]"
I thought this just meant the insertion of the new citation failed. What I hadn't realised it at the time, but what this appears to mean, is that Zotero updates the next citation in the document to the citation which I was trying to insert (although no citation is inserted at the intended location). Plus there is no moving of the cursor etc. so you think nothing has happened and just try again (and the second time the citation is always inserted as normal).
This is a fairly rare occurrence, but I'd estimate has happened 5-7 times in this document, so now I need to go back through and check all my citations!
Yes, will submit a Debug Log.
Then perform the action that produces this behavior. Afterwards, go back to the Help menu and click Submit Log.
That error though, indicates what I think the problem is. Zotero can get tripped up if you move the next a citation is part of while Zotero is updating it. You may have some corrupt citation in your document. I recommend you follow Step 8 here:
https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_troubleshooting#debugging_broken_documents
to find the corrupt citations and re-insert them.
@adomasven I’ve never seen behavior like this before. Any other ideas?
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