Can't add citation in Word

jianfei.zhao
When I trying to add a citation in the word by using "add/edit citation" button, I encounter the error like following "Zotero experienced an error updating your document Would you like to view troubleshooting instructions？". How can I solve it

  • dstillman
    Assuming it works in a new document, see the troubleshooting instructions linked from the dialog:

    https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/debugging_broken_documents
  • jianfei.zhao
    It doesn't in a complete new document. I have reinstall zotero and office 2019 for several times, but it doesn't work
  • dstillman
    Can you provide a Report ID?

    What exact version of Word?
  • jianfei.zhao
    Report ID：2025641517
    Version of Word：Office professional plus 2019
    Version of System：win 10 enterprise


  • jianfei.zhao
    The problem first occured about 5 hours ago when I tried to copy essay from a document in to a different document. Those two document both have citation before the copy action. After copy essay, I clicked the refresh button and since then the problem continues to occur
  • dstillman
    To be clear, I'm asking about trying to insert a citation into a completely new document with nothing in it, not a copy of the original document. Can you insert a citation into a new, empty document?
  • jianfei.zhao
    I can't insert a citation into a new, empty document.
  • dstillman
    Have you tried restarting your computer?

    When's the last time it was working on your computer? Do you recall anything that changed on your computer between then and when this first stopped working?
  • jianfei.zhao
    edited May 25, 2020
    I have tried restarting my computer for several times.
    - It didn't work after i copy things in to the document from a edited document and click the 'refresh button' .
    - The mathtype plugins didn't work well yesterday which occur error like 'visual basic error', but it recovered after i reinstall mathtype
  • dstillman
    It didn't work after i copy things in to the document from a edited document and click the 'refresh button'
    That wouldn't have anything to do with it. Something has to have changed on your computer that's interfering with the plugin's ability to work at all, even in a new, empty document.

    A problem with Visual Basic in Word would certainly break the plugin, so it's likely related to that.

    But as a first thing to try, open your Word Startup folder, delete Zotero.dotm, and restart Word to make sure the plugin is gone completely from Word. Then close Word and reinstall the plugin from the Cite → Word Processors pane in Zotero and restart Word.

    Let us know if it works in a new document after that. If not, you'll have to figure out what happened with Visual Basic in your Word installation.
  • jianfei.zhao
    It still doesn't works. I have re-install word for several times, maybe I should try a lower version of word
  • dstillman
    edited May 25, 2020
    No, you want to be using the latest version of Word, not an older version. What's the full, exact version you're running?

    Again, if there was a problem related to Visual Basic in Word yesterday, that's almost certainly related.

    @adomasven may have some other suggestions of things to try.
  • adomasven
    I have tried restarting my computer for several times.
    - It didn't work after i copy things in to the document from a edited document and click the 'refresh button' .
    So just to confirm, have you been able to insert and update Zotero citations in a new Word document after restarting your computer? No copying of another document contents, etc.
  • jianfei.zhao
    The version of Word ：Office 2019 prefessional plus enterprise edition @dstillman
  • jianfei.zhao
    I re-install the Word and it is not able to insert and update Zotero citations in a new Word document after restarting my computer.@adomasven
  • jianfei.zhao
    Could it be related to citation style. Although the citation style have the same name in 2 documents, but the older one import citation style from a offline file while the other one download from style manager
  • adomasven
    Could you restart Zotero and Word, attempt to insert a citation in a new document and then submit another Report ID?

    For the version of Word, you should go into File -> Account in Word and get the full version number.
  • jianfei.zhao
    report id:601831771
    word version:Version 1808 (build 10337.20021）
  • adomasven
    Seems like you're using an enterprise/country specific version of Word, and I cannot find a precise version history of it on Microsoft's pages, but it does seem like there might be a newer version available, so trying to update it could not hurt.

    Otherwise you should try temporarily moving Normal.dotm to desktop and restarting Word to see if that helps. If it does not you should create a new Windows user account on the computer and see whether citing with Zotero works properly there.
  • jianfei.zhao
    Actually ,i think found the problem. I can't delete anything when I selected in word
  • jianfei.zhao
    To be exactly,i can't use backsapce in word while 'delete' works
  • adomasven
    The error Word is reporting to Zotero is "无法删除范围。" - "Unable to delete range.". We usually see this in corrupted individual documents, but not across all documents in Word. Either way, what you're saying indicates something is corrupted in your Word preferences/configuration. Moving Normal.dotm away (which will cause Word to reset it), as well as testing whether it works on a different user account are definitely something you should try.
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