Installing Word Add-In from Command Line or With FileWave on macOS

dsedv
Hi Zotero-Users
We use Filewave for software distributon on our macOS machines. While it is easy to install the main program this way, I hope for advice how to install the MS Word add-in either with Filewave or with a bash command or any other way (office admin center?) that allows us to do it without user interaction. As it is now, when Zotero starts the first time after distribution and tries to install the Word add-in users are asked to provide admin authentication which they don't have.
Also I wonder if it is possible to install the add-in on a per user basis rather than for all users because not all users might need or want the add-in.
Thanks for any thoughts.
Roger
  • dstillman
    Have you changed the Word Startup folder location from the default? That defaults to a directory within ~/Library, which obviously is user-specific and shouldn't require administrative privileges.

    You can see manual installation instructions for details, but this shouldn't be necessary. (If you did want to skip the initial prompt, you would need to copy the file from the app package to the Startup folder and also modify prefs.js in the Zotero profile directory to set extensions.zoteroMacWordIntegration.installed and extensions.zoteroMacWordIntegration.skipInstallation to true.
  • dstillman
    From your other thread:
    The documentation "Manually Installing the Zotero Word Processor Plugin"(https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_manual_installation) seems to answer my questions. However, what I don't understand: the document describes installing the add-in into a folder in the user's Library. Why is it then, that admin credentials are needed, when Zotero wants to install it on the first start?
    I'd guess that Word 2011 still exists on these machines, and the Startup folder for Word 2011 was in /Applications, which requires admin privileges.

    If Word 2011 is no longer used, you could just remove those, but you can also just skip plugin installation altogether with the prefs I give above.
  • dsedv
    edited August 4, 2020
    Sorry for the second thread. That was a mistake not on purpose. My first post was not yet published (the first post is moderated) when I found the documentation about the manual install. So I edited my first post - which I found in "drafts" - not realizing that would create a second thread. Sorry again.

    And thanks for your valuable input. As a matter of fact I do have Word 2011 (and Word 2008) as well as Word 2016. I'll try your suggestions, they sound very reasonable.
    What still puzzles me though: Why would the error be "The file Zotero.dot couldn't be opened because there is no such file." when the file obviously exists? I tried to trace the error in the JavaScripts and the error report but my knowledge is too limited.
  • dstillman
    Why would the error be "The file Zotero.dot couldn't be opened because there is no such file." when the file obviously exists?
    That's a bug we need to fix. It's an error from a later operation (setting the classic Mac OS creator and type codle on the copied file, as required by Word 2011 and earlier), but since the file was never copied in the first place, it displays that error. Sorry for the confusion.
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