[BUG REPORT] Google Docs - citations are unlinked if I cut and paste them

rutyggi
edited May 31, 2021
If I insert a citation in Google Docs, and then I cut and paste it, the citation gets un-linked and I have to remove it and insert it again from scratch

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So the passages to reproduce the bug are as follows:

1. Using Google Docs and Google Chrome, insert a citation
2. Select the citation, together with some text surrounding it, and cut it
3. Paste the result in another place of the document
4. Insert another citation (may be the same paper but may also be another paper)
5. The citation inserted in (1) and moved afterwards becomes unlinked
  • adamsmith
    You're using ctrl+x --> ctrl + v for copy & paste?
    Zotero doesn't pick up drag&drop, but copy & paste via the keyboard shortcuts should work.
  • rutyggi
    @adamsmith

    Yes I am using CTRL+X and CTRL+V.

    Here is a video of the bug: https://youtu.be/nemaKsRfPL8
  • adomasven
    @raffaem It looks like Google has changed the Docs editor recently which has broken cut-pasting of Zotero citations. We'll look for a workaround but it's indeed broken for now.
  • rutyggi
    This is heavily affecting my workflow, as I frequently move citations around in the final phase of my paper, and citations come and go by themselves, and there is no way to distinguish what is a citation and that isn't because they have the same text color and the same format of the "normal" text (normal black font).

    Would it be difficult to solve this?
  • adomasven
    We're working on a fix. If you can we recommend transferring the document to LibreOffice or Word until this is resolved if it is causing you a lot of pain. Otherwise note that only cutting and pasting is affected. If you copy your citations and hit refresh in the Zotero menu you can then remove the original citation.
  • adomasven
    edited June 7, 2021
    @raffaem This is a Google Chrome bug that is being fixed on their end and should be resolved with a Chrome 91 update as per their bugtracker. In the meantime it can be worked around by using Firefox, Edge or other browsers that support Chrome extensions.
  • rutyggi
    Thank you very much adomasven for investigating this.

    Sorry, but what does it mean that they marked the bug report as a duplicate of a _private_ bug?

    A bug should be private only if it is a vulnerability. This isn't. How can we track progress on this if the bug report is private? How do we know when it will be backported if the bug report is private?

    Why is the bug report private?

    A colleague of mine just modified a shared document and all the citations got unlinked.
  • dstillman
    A bug should be private only if it is a vulnerability. This isn't.
    You don't know that. We don't know the reason for the original change that removed this data, but it's not hard to imagine its being a side effect of some security-related change.
    A colleague of mine just modified a shared document and all the citations got unlinked.
    Meaning they cut and pasted items while having the Connector installed? To be clear, that's the only thing that should be affected here.
  • dstillman
    This was fixed by Google in Chrome over a week ago.
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