Continuous "Updating" in Google Docs?

mattstidham
When I am using the Zotero plugin with Google Docs, sometimes the footnote citation works correctly, and other times it leaves a continuous "{Updating}" message in the footnotes as a placeholder.

I believe I'm doing the same process every time. Sometimes deleting the citation and trying again remedies the problem. Other times it persists.

Anyone else having this issue? Any workarounds? Anything I should try differently?
  • dstillman
    It could just be intermittent Google Docs slowness/hanging, but check to make sure that the citation dialog isn't just behind your other windows. It's part of Zotero, so it could be behind the main Zotero window.

    If you're sure it's hanging without showing the citation dialog, we'd want to see a Debug ID from Zotero for this happening, after restarting Zotero.
  • adomasven
    @mattstidham If you see {Updating} after inserting the citation (the Zotero citation dialog and progress bar closes), try using Google Docs and Zotero with Firefox and see if you still get the issue. Which browser are you using now?
  • mattstidham
    @adomasven I'm currently using Chrome. @dstillman the issue isn't a background process. These footnotes are updating continually. I have documents I created as far as a year ago that still have these issues. The footnotes simply never work. Deleting them repeatedly and trying again sometimes works. If I ignore them and hope for them to sort themselves out, nothing ever truly updates. I literally just did the delete and retry for 2 footnotes. One worked successfully, one did the same "updating."

    Here's the debug id: D244329932
  • adomasven
    To elaborate on what's going on here: when Zotero is inserting a citation it inserts a temporary placeholder that says "{Updating}", which it uses to communicate with Google Docs as a reference point for where the citation should actually be inserted. If you see Zotero finishing the citation insertion (the progress bar disappears, and you are able to start another citation isertion), but the "{Updating}" placeholder remains, that means something went wrong in Google Docs. After that no amount of waiting or refreshing the document will fix the issue, you will have to remove the placeholder and try again. We're aware of this bug, but we're unable to replicate it ourselves. Some of the users who reported the issue have said that they don't see the bug with Firefox. Please confirm whether you can reproduce the bug with Firefox, and if you can't, that's the best solution we can offer right now. If you can find a way to reliably reproduce the "{Updating}" bug, please let us know.
  • nkraenbring
    Just chiming in to say I am having the exact same issue as mattstidham. I restarted Zotero and that allowed me to get one citation in, but then the second one went to {Updating}. I have done this now at least three times, restarted Zotero and closed/reopened document, added first citation successfully and then second citation goes to {Updating}. I've changed up citations so it's not the same one each time. Yes, I am using Chrome. (I really work completely in Chrome and don't use other browsers.) I just did it again and captured with the debug process and submitted - D1756006500.
  • mattstidham
    @adomasven I downloaded Firefox for the first time in years today and have been using Zotero flawlessly. No issues at all. This seems like a Chrome-specific issue.
  • nkraenbring
    I also downloaded Firefox, and it is working like a dream.

    In addition, I'm really pleased to see the Google Docs-> Word conversion keeps citations intact now. That was not the case when I started playing with it back in fall of 2020. Thank you for this update!

    (And sorry to tromp on this thread!)
  • dstillman
    edited February 5, 2022
    In addition, I'm really pleased to see the Google Docs-> Word conversion keeps citations intact now. That was not the case when I started playing with it back in fall of 2020.
    (That feature hasn't changed since it was introduced in 2019. Downloading a .docx file directly from Google Docs has never worked, which I suspect is what you're remembering having tried.)
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