The cursor is not currently within a Zotero citation.

I am a novice user of Zotero, so I apologize for the basic question. I searched for an answer in the documentation and the discussions but found none.

When I try to edit a citation in Word 2007, I get an error that says: The cursor is not currently within a Zotero citation. I've tried to put the cursor everywhere that I could think of to no avail. Where should I place the cursor?

I don't remember having this problem last year while using Word 2003.
  • what happens if you click on "add bibliography"?
    It could be that - for whatever reason - the links to Zotero are broken.

    What happens if you start a new document, insert a citation, then move your cursor inside the citation (i.e. anything that's shaded in grey) and try to edit it?
  • What citation style are you using?
  • I am using Chicago Manual of Style (Full Note w/ Bibliography)
    I am displaying as footnotes, format using fields.

    I just realized that I can edit all the citations, except for the first one in my document. I tried to delete then reinsert the reference citation, and that did not help. Even stranger is that I can edit my current note 2 without any problem. However, as soon as I delete the first footnote, and note 2 becomes note 1 I can no longer edit it; I get the same error message.

    This seems like a quirk in the program. Have you heard of anything like this?
  • no, never heard this before.
    what happens if you add a note _before_ your first note - can you edit the note (i.e. the one that used to be first and is now second) then?
  • No. In fact, when I inserted a new note above my first note, I could then edit that note that became note 2. I could not edit the new note 1.
  • I should mention that I updated from Word 2003 to 2007 recently. My Zotero add-in seemed to come right over, so I did not download a new version. Should I have? Could that be causing any issue?
  • Suck it and see? And report back please.
  • komrade, if this relates to Zotero, I don't get what you mean. Please explain.

    Did I offend in some way? If so, please accept my apologies. I am new not only to Zotero but to discussion forums. Did I violate etiquette in some way? If so, please explain so I do not do so again.

    I still have the problem, but have worked around it by manually editing the first citation.
  • Matt, don't worry. "Suck it and see" is not intended to be offensive - komrade just meant that the best way to find out is to try it.
  • Thanks. I'm glad that I did not offend. I will assume that he meant to try downloading a new version and re-installing. I will try that tomorrow and report back.
  • Hey sorry Matt - it's my terse Aussie humour! Clearly an expression that doesn't translate - that's my etiquette violation not yours!

    Yes I just meant that trying the new version is usually the first thing to do - and the only way to find out if it will work is to give it a try!

    And if you have success, then please let us all know, might help someone else with the same problem.
    I've had similar issues with not being able to get "within" numeric references; switching to Author-date allowed me to edit them, and just deleting the whole thing and doing again also worked.
    But it sounds like you are having weirder issues with the numbering - hope the new version helps!
  • No worries, Komrade. After being told what you meant, it is a pretty good saying...suck and see...I like it.

    I just downloaded the most current add in for 1.0.x and reinstalled. Nothing changed. I'm not going to worry about it. If anyone happens to have a suggestion, I'll give it a try, but this isn't that big of a deal.

    I'm tempted to try 2.0, but given my lack of sophistication, I'm reluctant to hitch my wagon to a beta version...
  • matt - 2.0 isn't really beta if you use it like 1.0.10 - if anything it's more stable. Only the syncing and group features are really beta. (Disclaimer: I'm can't speak for Zotero in any official capacity, just as an informed user).
  • Adam - That is good to know. Thanks. I think I will try it out then. I'll report back to let you know if it resolved the issue.
  • Upgraded to 2.0. No change in the problem. It was worth a shot though.
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