Using notes in word processor document

This discussion was created from comments split from: Does the following 5 - five features are available in Zotero.
  • I'm creating a list of notes from Zotero into LibreOffice.
    So I just select the "Note" from beneath the main entry and create a numbered list in the target LibreOffice file. However, the number of characters which can be imported in this way from Zotero into LibreOffice appears to be limited to 120n length.
    How can the number of characters be increased beyond 120. I've looked in the native import files but there was nothing there which I could identify. Does anyone have definitive advice here?
  • edited April 4, 2020
    (Please start new threads for new issues — the thread you posted to wasn't at all related to your question. I've moved this to a new thread.)

    Are you trying to use the word processor plugin to add these notes? Don't do that. (It shouldn't even be possible. I guess you're selecting them in the classic citation dialog? That's really just a bug that those appear at all.)

    You can just drag a note from Zotero to any text field to copy it as text.
  • Thanks for the prompt response. Here's a more thorough description of the situation and my question:
    1. I've stored relevant information as a "note" in Zotero, either as a stand-alone note or imbedded within an entry (for example, a patent entry).
    2. In the LibreOffice document, there are specific, individual places which I want to mark with a series of numbers (yes, just like a reference list).
    3. I wish to link those numbers to a bibliography-style list.
    4. The entries in that list should not contain the meta-data. Instead the entries should consist of the text which I've entered into the Zotero-note field.
    5. So what I've been doing is using the "add citation" button (classical Zotero) to select that note and enter it into the document.
    6. This does work. However the text which is transferred is limited to 120 characters.
    7. I've therefore experimented with a variety of different bibliographic styles. However, all are limited to 120 characters.

    Summary: In other words, I can't create a bibliography-style list from notes which contains more than 120 characters.
  • That's right -- that can't be done with Zotero; as dstillman says, the fact that inserting notes as citation works at all is just a coincidence.

    Would endnotes work for this rather than citations inserted by Zotero?
  • edited April 6, 2020
    Sorry, but I don't have Endnote, even assuming that it would work with LibreOffice. Three cheers for Zotero, which is free if you aren't employed at a university!

    An idle observation is if this limited functionality is only accidental, then it should be relatively easy to deliberately improve upon it. Or at least a reference format which accomplishes the same desired effect.

    Why is this effect limited to 120 characters? I looked through the programming files for the different styles but could find no allusion to this.
  • I really did mean what I wrote, i.e. endnotes, which are built into LibreOffice (and most other word processors). If I wanted a numbered list of notes at the end of my document, that's what I'd use.

    It's limited to 120 characters because it picks up the note "title", which for Zotero purposes is defined as the notes first 120 characters (or, I think, the first paragraph, whichever comes first). I'm afraid there's very little chance of changes/improvements in this area.
  • (adamsmith is referring to regular endnotes/footnotes that LibreOffice can insert by itself, not the Endnote reference software.)
  • Thanks, guys but using the native endnote function within LO had already occurred to me.

    By directly inserting "live" notes from Zotero directly into a LO document, the underlying intention is to edit the note in Zotero and have the imported note be automatically updated in LO. Having to manually update notes though copy-and-paste is prone to errors (and also tedious).

    The only two conceivable work-arounds which occur so far to me would be:
    (1) Save the LO document in .docx format, and see if Zotero will fare any better or
    (2) Somehow create a "live" database from Zotero, and connect that to LO.

    But I'm open to your suggestions!

    Thanks
  • (1) Zotero cannot work with .docx files in LibreOffice generally.
    (2) Not if the note is longer than 120 characters, no, and that won't necessarily yield predictable results (e.g., it may add "(no date)" to the citation of your note).

    What you are asking for isn't possible, sorry.
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