Re-ordering a bibliography

cammc
I was wondering if there was a way for Zotero to re-organize the order of the bibliography. I've made quite a few edits to my manuscript since I started and unfortunately the references are all out of order now. For example, my first reference is now number 10 in the bibliography and I would like change it to number 1.

Many thanks.
  • adamsmith
    If you work with the Word processor add-on, that should be automatic. Have you clicked "Refresh'?
  • cammc
    Thank you for the reply Adam. Yes, I have tried the refresh button in the Word doc add-on. I do have the bibliography already exported into the document. I haven't used Zotero previously. Should I try exporting the bibliography again perhaps?

    Thanks again for your help.
  • damnation
    It looks like you've been using Zotero in a different way than intended.

    If you use the Zotero Word Add-on and then click on "Add/Edit Citation" to introduce the citations into the text, then you can just click on "Add Bibliography" to have the bibliography rendered.

    How did you add citations into your text?

    See also: https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_usage
  • cammc
    Thank you for your reply. Yes, I added all my references using the "Add/Edit Citation" tool in Word.
    If I go to Add/Edit bibliography icon it doesn't seem to alter the order for me.
  • damnation
    edited May 30, 2022
    Which citation style are you using? What sometimes helps is switching to a different style (e.g. APA > IEEE > APA). That forces a re-render of everything.
  • cammc
    Thank you for the suggestion. I'm using American Medical Association. I tried going to the document preferences in the Word add-on and changing to APA but the reference order didn't change or update. I have 54 references. They got out of order when I inserted a large table with a lot of references and switched some paragraphs around in my doc.
  • damnation
    Looks like your references got flattened then.

    Read through this to understand the issue and also check a few things.
    https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/existing_citations_not_detected

  • cammc
    Thank you once again for the information. I was able to check that my citations are indeed still active in Word. I went back the Zotero software and used your earlier suggestion of changing to another style. I did the same in the word add-on. That removed all the numbering and then I switched back to the AMA style in both the Zotero software and Word and now the problem is solved! Thank you very much. That has saved me hours of time.
  • damnation
    Great.

    Just to explain, the style set inside Zotero has nothing to do how they will look in your document.
    You need to set it under Document Preferences in the Add-on and that's it. ;)
  • cammc
    Thank you once again.
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