Google Docs to Word active citation transfer

KaylinMcNeil
Zotero.org says that "It's not currently possible to transfer active citations between Google Docs and Word or LibreOffice, but we will be offering a workflow for converting documents between word processors in the near future."

Do we know the time line on this?

I am working on a collaborative research project in Google Docs for which the final product has to be a Word document with sources linked to a resource library. Is it possible to use Zotero for this?
  • adamsmith
    What do you mean by "sources linked to a resource library"? How would that look?

    (You can, obviously, export a Word document from a Google Doc with Zotero citations; the limitation is that you won't be able to work with those citations using Zotero in the Word document anymore. They're just plain text).
  • KaylinMcNeil
    By "sources linked to a resource library" I mean being able to work with those citations using Zotero in the Word document rather than those citations being converted to plain text.

    This is not a possibility right now, but Zotero says "they will be offering a workflow for converting documents between word processors in the near future." I'd like to know what the near future means.
  • dstillman
    We're going to try to have this available in a beta version within the next couple weeks.
  • researchNFB
    Is this available yet? My citations are in a Google Doc but I need to transfer it all to Word for a final product. Will the transfered citations still be plain text?
  • adamsmith
    No. But if you just need the final product as Word, why do you need active citations? Why not just copy the document, unlink citations, and then export to Word?
  • researchNFB
    I am writing a book and the publishers require Word to edit. The problem is that if they make any adjustments to sentence structure/reference position, the citations will obviously not be updated.

    I believe I have 2 options at the moment:
    1. Export zotero library and import to EndNote. Do you know if endonote will automatically allow citations to still exist? Or will I experience the same problem - citations as plain text?
    2. Be very clear to publishers to not change location of references however this creates room for human error.

    In hindsight, I should have just used zotero in word from the get go.

    What are your thoughts on this? Any suggestions at the moment are greatly appreciated. I have 500+ references at stake.
  • fbennett
    The Zotero developers have mentioned that exports with live citations are in the short-range roadmap. There isn't a fixed time frame, but it may be coming along soon. @dstillman or @adomasven may have more info.
  • fbennett
    (Oops, sorry, Dan had already responded.)
  • dstillman
    edited March 21, 2019
    We're still working on this — it's not quite ready, but it should be very soon. We'll post here once it's available in a beta.

    @researchNFB: I'm not sure what EndNote would have to do with this. The issue is just that you can't currently move a document created with Zotero in Google Docs to another word processor and keep the Zotero citations active. Using some other program wouldn't change that. If you have a Word document with active Zotero citations, there's no problem sending that for review as long as they don't resave the document in another file format that causes the citations to be lost. That's not really in any way related to this issue, though — the point here is just that, until this feature is available, you can't get a Google Doc to Word with active citations intact.
  • researchNFB
    Ok. Thanks for your help @dstillman
  • provartn
    @dstillman, I would be happy to be a beta-tester for the Zotero Google Docs to Word transfer workflow. I am working on a chapter collaboratively in Google Docs and the Zotero plugin worked like a charm for this - thanks for creating it! However, Google Docs has several limitations (like not automatically doing sequentially number headings - a plugin to do this available but is buggy) so I would like to do the final polishing in Word. As I understand from this discussion thread and others, currently the in-text Zotero citations would only be exported to Word as text, but I would like to have them as active Zotero fields in Word (and be able to add new ones) and not have to re-enter them...
  • adomasven
    See https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/77416/available-for-beta-testing-move-documents-with-citations-between-word-processors
  • provartn
    Thanks!! I've left a few comments on the https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/77416/available-for-beta-testing-move-documents-with-citations-between-word-processors page.
  • saragfiguera
    What about the opposite? Is it possible to transfer active citations from Word to Google Docs?
  • dstillman
    @saragfiguera: See the thread linked in the two posts before yours.
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