Some problems with Zotero in Safari 17.0?

zzotterro2
edited October 3, 2023
I use Zotero extensively with Firefox. In the past, I have not been able to use Zotero with Safari, so I did not use Safari as my default browser. A few days ago, I updated Safari to 17.0, and realized that I COULD use Zotero with it, so I started experimenting with using Safari. I also realized I could use Zotero with Brave, so I started experimenting with Brave. I was really excited to see that I could save to Zotero Connector from each browser, and end up with one combined set of Zotero data!

But I started having problems when trying to save items (snapshots) from Safari. Occasionally, the Zotero button in my browser toolbar would seem to work, but often, it would not (even though it is not greyed out) - nothing would be saved by left-clicking the button, and right-clicking just gave me the option to manage the extension, or remove it. (I was also experimenting with the Safari profile feature; I don't know if this had any effect.)

Serendipitously, I realized that I seem to be able to save items by right-clicking ON THE WEB PAGE (in the context-specific menu, I get options to save with or without snapshot, etc). So I am happy with that, I just wanted to report that there seems to be some problem with saving by clicking the toolbar icon, as I was used to doing in Firefox.

Thanks very much!
  • adomasven
    Can you reliably reproduce this broken button condition? If so, what are the steps to reproduce it?
  • zzotterro2
    I am using Mac Monterey. I have Zotero Connector running. I have Safari 17 running. I am on this page (the Zotero forum, this discussion). I set up a new Collection in Zotero (called TEST). I went to my Safari toolbar, where the Zotero icon appears as a blue page (blue might possibly be a result of my Safari settings?). I left-clicked the blue page icon - nothing was saved to my TEST collection. Then, I tried right-clicking on the web page. If I was outside the margin of the white section (I guess on the page background), then when I right-clicked, I saw the context-specific menu, but if I chose "Save to Zotero (Web page with snapshot)", nothing happened. But then I tried with my cursor inside this forum section, right-clicked, got the context-specific menu, and chose the save with snapshot option, and it worked. I was going to repeat this to make sure it was right, so I trashed the snapshot from inside Zotero Connector. I think clicking the blue icon still did not work, but now clicking anywhere on this page (I was outside the forum margin, on the background), did seem to work, but my drop down "saving" box stayed on my screen, and is still stuck there. I am sorry if this is confusing. Something seems to be wrong, but this is all I can do right now to trouble shoot. Must get to sleep. Thank you for looking into this.
  • adomasven
    Do you have any other extension enabled in Safari? Could you try temporarily disabling them and seeing if the button works? Have you tried restarting your Mac?
  • zzotterro2
    Yes, I have Malwarebytes Browser Guard 2.0.0 (it seems to have 4 components listed separately in Preferences>Extensions), Bitwarden Free Password Manager, ABP 2.2.10 (and ABP Control Panel, listed separately), Grammerly, and, of course, Zotero Connector 5.0.109.

    I will try to find time later today or tomorrow to experiment with turning them off and restarting my Mac.

    (Irrelevant: I wish I could find a good tab manager for Safari. I use Tree Style Tab for Firefox, and have just started experimenting with Tabs Outliner in Brave. I tend to have a huge number of browser tabs open at all times, and cannot really function without such an extension.)
  • zzotterro2
    Hi - I don't want to deal with restarting my Mac right now (takes a long time, bec of having so many tabs open in Firefox). But I did go to Safari Preferences>Extensions, and unchecked Malwarebytes Browser Guard (all 4 components), Bitwarden Free Password Manager, ABP (and its Control Panel), and Grammerly. So Zotero Connector was the only enabled extension. Then I tried to save a snapshot of a page, using the button, and it did not work.
  • dstillman
    edited October 4, 2023
    Can you provide a Debug ID from the Zotero Connector for loading the page and trying to save, and also provide a Report ID from the Zotero app?
  • zzotterro2
    I'll do that tomorrow. (I've never done it before.) Do you care whether or not the other extensions are enabled or not?
  • dstillman
    When unexpected things are happening, it's always best to test with other extensions disabled.
  • adomasven
    @zzotterro2 you should to restart Safari after disabling other extensions before testing the Zotero Connector.
  • zzotterro2
    I disabled all extensions except Zotero Connector. Then, I restarted Safari. Also, quit Zotero Connector and restarted it. Turned on debug logging. Tried to save snapshots of this page and the debug output logging page (documentation page). Both snapshots were saved! Submitted Debug ID D1688214456 and Report ID 1356163270.

    I guess the next step is to re-enable the other extensions, one at a time, to see if that causes the problem to reoccur.
  • zzotterro2
    Oy. Now I can't re-enable the other extensions. I get a message, "Safari detected an app or service that interfered with clicking." And the Learn More link is https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211233?cid=mc-ols-safari-article_h211233-macos_ui-06162020. (Apparently, this security feature was triggered by the Zotero logging, even though Zotero logging is no longer enabled, and I restarted Zotero Connector and Safari again.) So I guess I have to restart my Mac in Safe Mode, to try to enable the extensions. But I'm not going to do that right now. (Restarting, as I said, takes a long time, bec of all the tabs I have open in Firefox.)
  • dstillman
    No, that message isn't caused by Zotero or debug logging.

    It sounds like Zotero is working fine now, but just to note, there's no point trying to troubleshoot anything if you can't you can't restart your computer. That's the most basic troubleshooting step and the first thing to try for any weird problem. (I'm not sure what that would have to do with Firefox tabs. I have thousands upon thousands of years-old tabs in Firefox, and I can restart it in a few seconds like any other program.) You should also make sure you're running the latest version of Monterey, if not a newer macOS version.
  • zzotterro2
    I am very relieved to hear that I'm not the only one with thousands of Firefox tabs! (I was sure it was a personal failing.) But something about Firefox (I've been assuming it's the gazillion tabs) messes up my computer, bogs things down, and then I need to restart Firefox to fix it. And whenever I quit and reopen, it takes a few minutes to accomplish that.

    Possibly it's one of my Firefox extensions - I use Bitwarden (free), DDG Privacy Essentials, Malwarebytes Browser Guard, Sort tabs advanced, Startpage search engine, TrafficLight (from Bitdefender), Tranquility Reader, Tree Style Tab, uBlock Origin, and Zotero Connector. Whew, didn't realize there were so many! I'd say BitWarden, Zotero Connector, and Tree Style Tab are essential to me. I think Malwarebytes Browser Guard sometimes alerts me not to go to particular web pages. And uBlock Origin is probably useful, although I've never really mastered it. (Recently stumbled across documentation that I plan to read/watch.) I can see there is probably a good bit of overlap in what I have... I guess I could experiment, to see if one of them is causing the slow restart, but if it's Tree Style Tab, well, I can't be without it. Also, when Firefox seems to grinding to a halt (beachball showing up), Activity Monitor usually shows multiple processes called FirefoxCP Isolated Web Content, which account for the high CPU usage. I guess I should find a Firefox forum to get help with all this - I had just been assuming it was the frightening number of tabs I had open.

    I have the latest version of Monterey, and 16 GB RAM, by the way. (I read that some Intel Macs might not run Ventura all that well, because it is optimized for silicon Macs.)

    Anyway, getting back to Zotero, I thought the problem with not being able to re-enable my Firefox extensions was because I turned on Zotero logging temporarily - Apple says if you can’t turn on extensions in Safari, in some cases, it's because this feature is affected by the use of legitimate software that has certain screen-recording or accessibility features. So I thought the logging might similarly have triggered this.

    I was going to restart now, but it's gotten too late - I will do it tomorrow. Hopefully, that will resolve my extension enabling problem. I will let you know if my problem with Zotero continues. Thanks very much.
  • zzotterro2
    PS - So it is still possible that my original problem with the Zotero button in Safari is due to interference from one of my Safari browser extensions (Malwarebytes Browser Guard (4 components), Bitwarden Free Password Manager, ABP (and its Control Panel), and Grammerly). I won't know for sure until I restart, and manage to re-enable the extensions.
  • zzotterro2
    I restarted my Mac in Safe Mode, re-enabled my extensions in Safari. Restarted back in normal mode. Zotero button is now working in Safari, with all my extensions enabled. When I tried it in Brave, the button works, altho the "Saving to Zotero [folder]" window that opens remains open until I expand it and click "Done". So all seems good - thanks!

    By the way, while in Safe Mode, Safari and Firefox would not display webpages normally - they just looked completely white. If I clicked on the tab, it might show the page for a second, but then it vanished. That isn't normal for Safe Mode, is it? Brave seemed to work normally.

    Now that I am out of Safe Mode, pages are displaying normally in Safari and Brave. But in Firefox, my default browser, it is taking a REALLY long time for my open tabs to display content. The tabs are all there - the icons are there, and the URLs are displayed in a tooltip, if I hover over the tab icons - but the pages are not displaying any content yet (the page is just white). (It might be because I got impatient when I wanted to restart my Mac in not-safe mode. I had quit Firefox, but as usual, it was taking a lot of time for it to quit completely, so I force quit it.) I am letting it sit... I think the content is now loading on some pages. (But you can see why I was reluctant to restart Firefox - it can take awhile, though it has never taken as long as this.) I have to get to the bottom of this Firefox problem. But meanwhile, I am very relieved that the pages are finally loading! Whew! And I just tested the Zotero button, and it is working in Firefox, as well.

    So thanks for everything - it seems that Zotero is working fine now!
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