Zotero in google docs 'greyed out' in collaborative document?

NatalieKA · August 25, 2019

I have a collaborative paper in which I originally had zotero connector working for adding citations, etc. The doc is owned by my and has been worked on by my colleagues. It is now my turn to edit, but the zotero citation button is not working. It is there, but it is grey. The Zotero connector works fine if I open a new document. Does anyone know why this is happening and how I can get the button to start working again? Does this have to do with some automatic version control between collaborators?

adomasven · August 26, 2019

Are you in suggestion mode (track changes)? Try switching to editing mode.

doug.manuel · February 2, 2021

Same problem. Greyed out in editing mode.

adomasven · February 2, 2021

Could you take a screenshot of the problem, upload it somewhere (like Dropbox) and post the link to it here? Does it work if you refresh the page?

Chris_the_sailor · February 3, 2021

That happens when you first switch to "suggestion" mode and then switch back to "editing" mode.
Zotero doesn't register that you are back in "editing" mode and doesn't let you edit any references.
The solution is to reload the Google doc, just hit reload on your browser, while in "editing" mode - at least that worked for me.

nerimarsili · April 13, 2021

Same, it worked for me too! Thanks @Chris_the_sailor

nathan.townsend · April 13, 2021

I noticed this recently too. I found that if I simply closed and restarted google docs, it fixed the problem and the zotero menu became accessible again.

slchapelle · June 4, 2021

I am having the same problem, if I use track changes it greys out, even if I go back to editing it remains grey unless I reload. When I switch to suggesting it removes the link and I have to reload. Extremely horrible.

adamsmith · June 5, 2021

Just to be clear -- Zotero can't work in suggest mode, so that's by design and won't change. The fact that it doesn't come back after going back to Edit mode is definitely a bug, but one that's fixed by a reload, so "extremely horrible" seems to be a bit dramatic.

adomasven · June 18, 2021

@Chris_the_sailor @nerimarsili @nathan.townsend @slchapelle @adamsmith This has been addressed in the Zotero Beta Connector and will soon be available on the release version too. Thanks for the report.