bug with exporting references from gdoc (beta)

drewsu · June 4, 2019

I am hitting an issue exporting references from a gdoc using the latest beta version. (Per the instructions in https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/77416/available-for-beta-testing-move-documents-with-citations-between-word-processors, I am creating this new thread with details.)

Example doc links:

pre-export: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12XsIDSALUQn4ifkBevHiA0zrkVPwsNgS1Tnk_D-wOjc/edit

post-export: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l8iTh0hqpWYUagiZ47nC09a-ExLWULhgBf2kcQahUbw/edit

I am unable to import that exported version back in, either in MS word or back into a gdoc. Zotero gives the following error in both cases:

--------
Zotero
The highlighted citation no longer exists in your Zotero database. Do you want to select a substitute item?

Clicking "No" will delete the field codes for citations containing this item, preserving the citation text but deleting it from your bibliography.
------------

All citations were created by one person (me)

beta version: 5.0.67-beta.16+41706a3a6

adomasven · June 5, 2019

Could you upload the citation style that you have used for this document somewhere (e.g. Google Drive, Dropbox, Pastebin, Github gist) and post the link here?

drewsu · June 5, 2019

The CSL file is here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xhgjfhjvtm0buy5/national-library-of-medicine-grant-proposals-baseline.csl?dl=0

Thanks!

adomasven · June 6, 2019

So your exported copy does seem to be broken (more specifically, the [2-5] citation is not exported), but it exports properly from me from the document pre-export. We have pushed some updates to the export code fairly recently on Google docs, albeit prior to your post. Still, could you try exporting the document again and confirm that the [2-5] citation did not get exported?

drewsu · June 6, 2019

I confirmed that the exporting is still failing on the first gdoc link above. However, I narrowed down the issue a bit more for you. It has something to do with the repeated reference #1. For example, this google doc is exactly the same except I've removed the second citation to reference #1:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/19qz5XQ3tG3FjdVTfugY1jxKQ5jH6XqI36A6yI-zdz-w/edit?usp=sharing

This document can be successfully exported and imported (both back in gdocs and locally in MS word). HTH....

drewsu · June 6, 2019

... actually, now I'm not so sure it has to do with the repeated reference. I was able to isolate a bug down to this minimal document

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QrhsSLdGJauMpM37Yf0DnBoa6HHBmdIBiwnKY0lpEAs/edit?usp=sharing

On export, I get this:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mQjT9v00Y-xBAEV2K90x1gQSzPKkUl_nRRTDSGGk2Yg/edit?usp=sharing

On re-import, I get this

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ewY6JD_lBuFKohqCmYIiKBF9ExsFfuRk2Omcdw_5zCE/edit?usp=sharing

So it's not exactly the same bug, but I'm guessing that it's close enough that the issue is related?

drewsu · June 6, 2019

... and just a note that I was able to reproduce that latter bug with two completely different references. So this should be something you can reproduce easily on your end with a new google doc? Happy to do more testing if not...

adomasven · June 7, 2019

Could you try testing with the beta connector?

drewsu · June 7, 2019

Thank you, I confirmed that the beta connector in firefox is able to successfully export and import all the documents linked above. (All the previous errors were found in chrome.)

Apologies for missing this detail. I suggest it might be worth emphasizing on https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/word_processor_document_export that both the beta version of the application and the connector are required (if I've understood the issue correctly). Thanks!

adomasven · June 10, 2019

We've now updated the production connector with the fix for your issue, so you no longer need the beta. Sorry for the trouble.