there is a slight misunderstanding here. There are two different syncing processes:
One is _always_ through the Zotero server.
It's very straightforward - you go into your preferences (in the gears menu) put in your username and password (same as for this forum) and then you can use the green cycle symbol on the right of your zotero panel to sync manually from all your computers. The default settings should work fine.
Since syncing is still beta I'd suggest backing up your database(s) before that.
The information will all be on the Zotero server.

For a number of reasons (server space not least) this does _not_ include syncing your attachments (i.e. snapshots and pdfs and whatever files you have attached). For that you need a separate WebDAV. You will need to activate that in the preferences. For any further questions on this, please refer to an appropriate thread, so that this one remains on the Word 2004 plugin.

eva: You tried installing the experimental version? If so, what happened, exactly? What was the exact error you received?

And what are you doing, exactly, to trigger this error? What are you clicking on, etc.?

Why are you opening .py files? In Word 2004, all you should need to do is run the installer and click the Zotero buttons on the Word toolbar. If you don't see the Zotero buttons after installation, make sure the Zotero toolbar is enabled.

You should see it in View->Toolbars, but it's possible the installation won't work properly on non-English copies of Word.

Did you restart Word after installation?

Do you have an /Applications/Microsoft Office 2004/Office/Startup/Word folder?

Do you see Zotero.dot within it?

Open Script Editor (/Applications/AppleScript/Script Editor) and paste in the following code:

tell application "Finder"
try
set mswd to application file "Microsoft Word" of folder "Microsoft Office 2004" of (path to applications folder)
on error
set mswd to application file id "MSWD"
end try
set startupFolder to POSIX path of ((folder "Word" of folder "Startup" of folder "Office" of folder of mswd) as alias)
end tell

Then press Run. What output do you see in the bottom half of the window?

OK, that's why Zotero.dot didn't install correctly.

What's the output for this?

tell application "Finder"
try
set startupFolder to POSIX path of ((folder "Word" of folder "Startup" of folder "Office" of folder of application file "Microsoft Word" of folder "Microsoft Office 2004" of (path to applications folder)) as alias)
on error
try
set startupFolder to POSIX path of ((folder "Startup" of folder "Office" of folder of application file "Microsoft Word" of folder "Microsoft Office 2004" of (path to applications folder)) as alias)
on error
try
set startupFolder to POSIX path of ((folder "Office" of folder of application file "Microsoft Word" of folder "Microsoft Office 2004" of (path to applications folder)) as alias)
on error
try
set startupFolder to POSIX path of ((application file "Microsoft Word" of folder "Microsoft Office 2004" of (path to applications folder)) as alias)
on error
try
set startupFolder to POSIX path of ((folder "Microsoft Office 2004" of (path to applications folder)) as alias)
on error
try
set startupFolder to POSIX path of ((path to applications folder) as alias)
on error
try
set startupFolder to POSIX path of ((application file id "MSWD") as alias)
on error
set startFolder to "Fail"
end try
end try
end try
end try
end try
end try
end try
end tell

So when you said "Microsoft Office 2004/ Office / Start/ Word/" above, you really meant "Start", not "Startup"? There's only a Start folder, not a Startup folder?

Can anyone else with a German (or other non-English) copy of Office 2004 check whether this is the case in their installation as well? I see only two references to that path in Google, and many for Startup.

Create a Startup folder in that directory and a Word folder within it, rerun the installer, restart Word, and see if the toolbar shows up in Word.

If it doesn't, try moving the Zotero.dot file from Startup/Word to Start/Word.

OK, great. I'm not sure why you had a "Start" folder, but it sounds like we can create Startup/Word in the installer if it doesn't exist.

Vivre en Ville: You don't want to open the .dot file directly.

Do you see any other directories under the Microsoft Office 2004 folder that might be localized versions of the expected ones?

In the Word preferences, File Locations, is Startup set to anything?

Sorry, could you clarify? So there is a "Microsoft Office 2004/Office/Démarrer" folder, and "Microsoft/Office/Démarrer/Word" contains pdfmaker.dot?

have you tried putting zotero.dot into Demarrer - that should work.

@Vivre - which installation instructions did you follow? (or did you use an installer)?
I'm trying to see if we could improve documentation so that other people with similar problems can figure this out themselves.

Thanks adamsmith,

Here are some thoughts: your "compatibility table" says the 2.0 Beta version is compatible with Word for Mac 2004 but the link below for the plugin leads to a page where only the Word 2008 compatibility plugin is available.

I only found the Word 2004 for mac plugin link in a comment by Simon (april 7) on this thread.

From there, the wizard did all the installing. I carefully read this whole thread for troubleshooting info before I asked for help but it might be worth noting somewhere in the "support" section that the zotero.dot template should be placed in the "Startup" directory identified in whatever language one's Word version is.

Looking forward to "citing as I write"