Zotero experienced an error updating your document issue

claudiajsoares
Hello,

I'm having problems with adding citations to both existing word documents and new documents. I've manually reinstalled the plugin and made sure that the .dotm file appears in Word (version 16.74) and that LibreOffice and Word Integration for Mac is enabled in Zotero (6.0.26).

I wondered whether anyone could help me, please?

The report ID I generated is: 1675922455

Many thanks in advance,
Claudia
  • adomasven
    You will have to follow Troubleshooting Errors in Word Processor Documents steps.
  • claudiajsoares
    Hi adomasven,

    Thanks for your reply. That was my first port of call - I've followed the steps as far as I can, but I've still not managed to get it back up and working...

    Is there anything else I can try, please?

    Thanks,
    Claudia
  • adomasven
    If you follow the last step in the instructions all the way through you will either end up with an empty document in which you can add citations, or you will isolate the problematic citation. That's what you should try.
  • claudiajsoares
    Hi adomasven,

    Thanks for your reply. I've tried in an empty document and this isn't working either - I've followed the steps in the word processor plugin (including the reinstalling of the plugin) but this still hasn't sorted the problem...?
  • adomasven
    Are you saying that you cannot insert citations into a new empty document? Have you tried restarting your computer?
  • claudiajsoares
    Yes - I can't do it in an empty document too. I've restarted several times, and also uninstalled and reinstalled zotero and MS word, just to be on the safe side (though I understand from one of the troubleshooting guides, this isn't likely to sort the problem...).

    Weirdly, this morning, I tried to add a citation use "nature' style which worked but on a second attempt it hasn't (and none of the rest of the citation styles work either).
  • adomasven
    What's the full version of macOS that you are running? Did this used to work before? Did anything change on your system (like OS update) before it stopped working?
  • claudiajsoares
    I'm running Monterey 12.6.6. It worked absolutely fine previously, but it's been several months since I've used Zotero for citations (I'm not entirely sure if I've had an OS update since last inserting a citation...) Nothing else to my knowledge has changed, and I'm not running any security software that might interfere.
  • adomasven
    It might be worth updating macOS to 12.6.7, which is the latest version.
  • claudiajsoares
    Ok, great, I'll give that a go and report back soon. Thanks for your advice so far!
  • claudiajsoares
    Hi Adomasven,

    I've upgraded my OS to Ventura 13.4.1 and retried everything - unfortunately it's still not working in an empty document. Is there anything else you'd recommend I try at all, please?

    Thanks again,
    Claudia
  • adomasven
    Does it happen when citing any item, or only those that have non-latin or accented characters?
  • claudiajsoares
    Yes - it seems to be any item that I try to cite...
  • adomasven
    Do you run any security software at all? Could you create a macOS account and see whether you can cite there?
  • claudiajsoares
    Hi adomasven,

    I don't run any security software. I've created a new macOS account but I'm still having no luck, even with an empty word document.
  • adomasven
    Can you submit a Report ID in the new user account where the same failure occurs? Does it occur if you cite an item without accented characters in Chicago or APA style?
  • claudiajsoares
    The report ID is: 1641787667 and this is in the new user account (empty document). It's also while trying to cite an item using Chicago 17th edition full note without any accented characters. I've tried several other citation styles too with no luck either.

    Thanks again for your help
  • dstillman
    We've made a change in the latest Zotero 7 beta that might help. Can you try running that to see if it makes a difference? (You can switch back to Zotero 6 if it doesn't help.)
  • claudiajsoares
    Hi dstillman,

    Thanks for your reply. I'm now running Zotero 7 beta, and reinstalled the MS word plugin as it said it needed to be updated. It hasn't resolved my issue unfortunately. I'm still getting the same error message in a blank document. The latest error report ID is: 1007069707.

    Thanks again for your help.
  • adomasven
    edited July 10, 2023
    Sorry it took a while to respond to you with further troubleshooting instructions. We had hoped other changes we were making to that code may also fix the issue you were seeing.

    Could you go to https://gist.github.com/adomasven/0fbe8f9ae741d6cffd784d02fb0b0f5c and download these two files and put them somewhere accessible, like your Documents or Desktop? Then:
    1. Open a new Word document.
    2. Double-click insert_rtf.scpt from the downloaded files.
    3. Press the Command-R
    4. A file picker will appear. Select the richzoterotext.rtf file you downloaded.

    It will either fail, or text saying "[Test text Italics ]" should appear in Word. Tell us what happens.
  • claudiajsoares
    Hi adomasven,

    No worries, and apologies for my delay in turn.

    I've just performed the task and it's been successful - the citation appears in the word document.

    Look forward to hearing back soon. Thanks again!
  • adomasven
    1. Open Terminal.app
    2. Type in echo $TMPDIR
    3. Copy the full directory path, it should start with /var/folders.
    4. Open Finder and press Cmd-Shift-G. Paste the path copied in step 3.
    5. Place richzoterotext.rtf file in the folder you just opened.
    6. Run insert_rtf.scpt again, this time select the richzoterotext.rtf file in the folder from Step 3. You can use Cmd-Shift-G in the file selection dialog.

    Tell us what happens after the last step.
  • claudiajsoares
    Hi adomasven,

    apologies for the delay. I've completed the steps as outlined above. After the last step the 'Test, M.A.' citation is copied into the new word document, appearing as:

    Test, M. A. (1992). Training in community living. Handbook of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 166, 153–170.

    Thanks,
    Claudia
  • adomasven
    Unfortunately I'm out of troubleshooting ideas by this point. We don't really have anyone else reporting being completely unable to cite in the way that you are. If we get reports like yours, they are usually resolved by the troubleshooting steps, or sometimes are intermittent on very slow systems.

    The last test you performed above is exactly the same thing that the Zotero plugin does when it fails for you, but when done from the Script Editor you see no issues. The most reasonable avenue to explore regarding troubleshooting this any further would be to check if Zotero is running in some isolated context for you, which would generally only happen when running some security software. If it were a macOS configuration option, it should work in a new account, but it doesn't for you.
  • DrVic2r
    I had the exact same issue, re-installing the plugin, didn't work. Manually removing the .dotm file and re-installing helped once, but a few hours later the problem re-appeared and this time this procedure didn't help either. Multiple restarts didn't resolve it either. However, after going through the process with the script editor loading the example reference it started working again (without re-installing the plugin). Hopefully it keeps working now.
  • DrVic2r
    Nope, problem is back, and now it's not resolved by running the script or any of the trouble shooting advice.
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