I was able to figure out how to make the change! At the end it was very easy: I just replaced the section of the code for "ibid/ibid with locator" with the code for "subsequent" and that did the trick.
If I can get instructions re. how to upload it to the repository, I'm happy to do it.

Hi - I'm having the same problem as others here. My uni uses the Canadian McGill Guide. I have installed the McGill Guide template. But when I cite something for the first time it doesn't create a "short form" at the end. For example, "citation" followed by "[Luban, Dignity]". When I cite it the second time, it just says "Luban" without "Dignity", which means if I have 3-4 papers by the same author it is very confusing as to which one I am referring to. They all say "Luban, supra x". I have tried the Short Title feature and it doesn't work. Is there a fix here?

I also have a second problem, where the "ibid" feature doesn't work consistently. Sometimes it will say "supra" the footnote right above, instead of ibid.

Ah, thanks. You need to update it to the 9th edition of the McGill Guide for Canadians. Page E-11 shows that short forms for secondary materials where more than one work of a particular author is cited requires the author's name and a short form of the title. Otherwise it's too confusing when you cite the same author more than once, which as others have said, we often do. If there's no fix, I can't use Zotero and will have to stick with the horribly laborious task of typing in my cites.

Thanks anyway!

For Chicago 17 that's on purpose and according to the styleguide.

Hi,

Jumping into this thread because I'm dealing with the same issue. McGill's primary citation format does use the method with just the author's last name:
12 Humphrey, supra note 2 at 25.

They offer alternatives when dealing with sources for multiple authors:

20 S Smith, supra note 7 at 1731.
21 L Smith, supra note 4 at 14.

and for multiple papers from the same author:

14 Baker, "Post-Confederation Rights", supra note 3 at 24

In this case, "Post-Confederation Rights" is specified as a short form in the suffix to the initial citation [Baker, "Post-Confederation Rights"]

They also recommend creating short forms for collections.

This is not a 7th edition vs 9th edition issue, I don't believe. I'm seeing this example in 7, 8, and 9th editions of the guide.

My plan for after papers this term is to try to fork and update the mcgill style file to the 9th edition, but getting this stuff to work might be beyond my scope of abilities.

Any help or workaround suggestions much appreciated.

I have found solution. Thanks.

Hello, I also need a) Chicago style in notes: first note full reference; all others with short titles. I haven't found the option on the style options and failed to do it in the editor. Any options @adamsmith ? Help!

I now found Chicago (full note, short title subsequent) in the Zotero style options.

Some references did not update after changing the style (which was my problem). So I deleted them and re-entered them, and now it works.