Hi. Some good news. I installed the first public beta of the new macOS yesterday. After reinstalling the Zotero beta, then enabling the extension in Safari, the button magically appeared!
WebExtensions support in Safari 14 is unfortunately still rather buggy and incomplete, so we're not yet able to provide a working Zotero Connector. We've reported some bugs to Apple and are waiting to see if they get fixed.
The beta Safari App Extension for Safari 13 continues to work — with the upgrade issue — with Safari 14.
Have I understood correctly that Apple has made the use of the Safari 14 extension only possible via apps downloaded from the App Store? Does that mean that, when available, I will essentially have to dump my current installation and reinstall Zotero from the App Store?
Safari 13 and Safari 14 support different technologies for extension development, but they both require extensions to be bundled with Mac apps (from anywhere, not just the App Store).
Hi After my Mac upgraded to macOS10.15.7, the safari extension button for Zotero was replaced by a shield-image button with anti-tracking function. Is it one of the problems with Zotero Connector on safari 14? Or is it just with this machine and can be fixed easily? Can you help? Thanks!
After updating to Big Sur, I had to (a) reinstall Zotero beta (b) check the box for Zotero extension in Safari (Safari > Preferences > Extensions > see left sidebar)
- Close Safari. - Remove the Zotero Beta from Applications. - Start Safari to confirm it's gone from the Extensions pane. - Restart your computer. - Reinstall the Zotero Beta into Applications. - Reenable the extension in Safari.
- Quit Safari - Trash the Zotero beta (I kept the standard version) - Download latest beta - Install beta, but keeping both versions (beta is then named Zotero 2) - Open beta, close again - Open Safari -> works again. I did not have to restart the computer. I did not have to reenable the extension.
I am not actually using the beta version, I have the normal version alongside it. No problems so far.
While we're still waiting for Apple to fix bugs in the new WebExtensions framework in Safari 14, we've updated the Safari App Extension available in the Zotero beta with most of the latest Zotero Connector changes, including recent fixes for Google Docs. (It doesn't include the recent improvements to snapshot saving.)
If you've been using the beta version of the Safari connector, you should delete the Zotero beta from Applications and redownload it from Dev Builds to get the latest version of the connector in Safari.
(As a reminder, you don't need to run the Zotero beta app day to day to use the beta extension, but you do need to redownload the app and open it once, and then leave it in Applications.)
Apologies if I've missed this, but will there be an update to allow for an extension in High Sierra?
I saw the issue (which is open), but the link to the comment titled 'complication' is dead... so I'm unsure as to what info was provided there.
For those saying that's it's not much to ask for users to use Chrome or Firefox, it kind of is. This would fundamentally change the way I work. I used Zotero because it streamlined my processes and made life easy. I also just upgraded to Zotero storage, so it would suck if I couldn't use it.
I understand Apple is not making things easy on devs, I was just wondering if this functionality would be coming back.
So I think the hope for folks on High Sierra would be for Apple to fix the bugs in Safari 14's extension support and I don't think anyone has any idea when that'll happen.
@restunr: Unless you're comfortable using beta software and following the instructions on the support page, you should use the Zotero Connector with Firefox or Chrome for now.
New to all this. Have downloaded latest Zotero for Mac/Safari, but the beta Safari connector link is not working. Have tried with 2 Macs and no luck. Also, the Bookmarklet for Safari is not working either (keep getting error message when try to add a reference). Most grateful for any help. Thanks.
@illybilly5: You'd have to say more. The download link for the Safari connector is simply a link to the support page that explains this issue. If you're not comfortable following the discussion there and running beta software, you should use the Zotero Connector for Firefox or Chrome.
so...I've been using Safari and Zotero for months now and today the connector is missing from Safari. From reading the thread, it looks like you are now recommending that we use the connector for Firefox or Chrome rather than Safari OR we can use the beta (which I'm guessing means not all the kinks are worked out? I've tried loading the Beta and the connector is still not working. If I am missing something let me know... this is very frustrating.
@keclarke: Nothing has changed on this in over a year — both the situation and our advice are the same. The support page explains that the Safari extension will disappear after an app update, due to a macOS bug, and explains that the beta app needs to be deleted from Applications and redownloaded to restore it. And it says that, if you're having trouble, you should use the Zotero Connector for Firefox or Chrome. But the Safari extension works fine other than the extra step after updates.
I've never had to delete it before, it's just updated, restarted and been fine. I've deleted it now, reinstalled the Beta and still not getting the connector to show up on Safari.
You can also try restarting your computer between deleting the beta app and redownloading. Note that you may need to re-enable the extension in the Extensions pane in the Safari preferences.
Restarting between seems to have done the trick because the connector wasn't showing up until after I did that little trick. Thanks, I was really pulling my hair out!
Due to an Apple bug, there's currently an issue where you may need to delete the Zotero beta app from Applications and redownload it after an app update to restore the Zotero Connector functionality in Safari. It may also be necessary to restart your computer in between deleting the app and redownloading.
Upgrade Storage
The beta Safari App Extension for Safari 13 continues to work — with the upgrade issue — with Safari 14.
See Safari Compatibility for a full explanation of the situation.
Safari 13 and Safari 14 support different technologies for extension development, but they both require extensions to be bundled with Mac apps (from anywhere, not just the App Store).
(a) reinstall Zotero beta
(b) check the box for Zotero extension in Safari (Safari > Preferences > Extensions > see left sidebar)
-uninstalled Zotero
-reinstalled the latest beta
-unchecked and checked the Connector
Still nothing.
Any ideas?
- Remove the Zotero Beta from Applications.
- Start Safari to confirm it's gone from the Extensions pane.
- Restart your computer.
- Reinstall the Zotero Beta into Applications.
- Reenable the extension in Safari.
- Quit Safari
- Trash the Zotero beta (I kept the standard version)
- Download latest beta
- Install beta, but keeping both versions (beta is then named Zotero 2)
- Open beta, close again
- Open Safari
-> works again. I did not have to restart the computer. I did not have to reenable the extension.
I am not actually using the beta version, I have the normal version alongside it. No problems so far.
If you've been using the beta version of the Safari connector, you should delete the Zotero beta from Applications and redownload it from Dev Builds to get the latest version of the connector in Safari.
(As a reminder, you don't need to run the Zotero beta app day to day to use the beta extension, but you do need to redownload the app and open it once, and then leave it in Applications.)
I saw the issue (which is open), but the link to the comment titled 'complication' is dead... so I'm unsure as to what info was provided there.
For those saying that's it's not much to ask for users to use Chrome or Firefox, it kind of is. This would fundamentally change the way I work. I used Zotero because it streamlined my processes and made life easy. I also just upgraded to Zotero storage, so it would suck if I couldn't use it.
I understand Apple is not making things easy on devs, I was just wondering if this functionality would be coming back.
Issue link: https://github.com/zotero/safari-app-extension/issues/3
So I think the hope for folks on High Sierra would be for Apple to fix the bugs in Safari 14's extension support and I don't think anyone has any idea when that'll happen.