Zotera does not save citations after an update today

iainmack52
In the middle of a study session my Zotera requested that I update, and now does not save citations. I've rebooted my PC, uninstalled/reinstalled Zotera, and removed/added the Chrome (On Win10) extension.

Zotera starts, and I can see my previously saved citations, but I can no longer save new citations. The Zotera icon has disappeared from my extensions quick links in the top right corner, and when I navigate to it via the Extensions icon/Zotero, it no longer shows the option for saving information.

Yes, I've looked on these forums for a solution, and I've attempted some of the suggested changes, but it has made no difference. I get the same error "does not have access to this site".

I have repaired the database and replaced the (possibly) corrupt version, and restarted Zotera - no difference.

Your assistance in getting past this challenge will be appreciated.
  • dstillman
    edited November 8, 2023
    (It's Zotero, not Zotera.)

    This wouldn't have anything to do with an update. There haven't been any updates to the Zotero Connector in over a month.

    It sounds like you may have accidentally changed the access settings for the extension. First, if you're actually using the Zotero Connector, you want to pin it to the toolbar from the Extensions menu — there's no need to click on the Extensions menu each time. Then right-click on the toolbar button, go to This Can Read and Change Site Data, and make sure it's set to On All Sites.
  • iainmack52
    I connected it with an update because I got a pop up asking for permission to update Zotera, and immediately that update completed, it failed, it hasn't worked since.

    I know about the Zotera connector, and it is pinned to my extensions menu - that no longer works. It has worked just fine for months. It is already set to "all sites" - I just checked again.

    The problem isn't how to navigate to it, the problem is it doesn't now work, regardless of how I select it. And if you say it isn't connected to an update, I believe you - notwithstanding my system did just update. Maybe some other entity falsely made an update to it? I'm less concerned with what caused it - I just gave you all the information I had in order for you to be able to fault find better - there is no "editorial comment" then or now. I'm only interested in fixing it. Getting it working again.

    So given the settings in Zotera appear to be OK, what Windows settings, if any, do you utilize? Did any of those requirements change recently? Maybe a new instruction et? A new feature that uses a different part of Win10? Maybe my PC has a setting that it now doesn't like? I've uninstalled and reinstalled, and the problem remains.

    I look forward to your suggested fixes.

    Regards,
    Iain
  • iainmack52
    I just thought I'd remove it and reinstall again - this time I removed the personal settings as well. Now the connector tells me Zotero "is not connected" - my browser did not update during this period, I was working in it at the time, so I can't see how any security software could have suddenly stopped it working.

    In a different browser - that doesn't have any "security" extensions that could have interrupted the flow of info - it now says "Zotero is disabled:

    What do I need to change to either enable and/or connect Zotero and either one or both of my browsers? One is Chrome, and is regularly updated (automatically) and the other browser is Edge.
  • dstillman
    Again, the software we produce is called Zotero, with an 'o'. Please stop calling it Zotera.

    Can you take a screenshot that shows the error you're getting, upload it somewhere (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.), and provide a link here?
  • dstillman
    edited November 8, 2023
    @iainmack52: You'd see "Zotero is disabled" if you're trying to directly save a PDF that's been handled by some other browser extension such as Acrobat. The URL in the address bar needs to begin with http:// or https://. If it begins with something else, like extension:// or chrome-extension://, it won't work, and you'll need to uninstall or disable whatever extension is intercepting PDFs.

    If this is the case, we don't need a screenshot.
  • iainmack52
    NOt easily - the error pop up disappears as soon as I press the screen grab keys, and the image captured does not show the pop up. If I can recreate the error I'll photograph it and send that.
  • iainmack52
    My apology - the complete uninstall/reinstall - versus keeping my personal settings - seems to have fixed that part, and yes, I was testing on a local PDF. Loading a web PDF worked just as always.

    It seems to be working at the moment, I appreciate your patience.
  • dstillman
    edited November 8, 2023
    A local PDF — starting with a file:// URL — will never work. If that's what you were testing with, that's all this was. The Zotero Connector can only access http:// and https:// URLs. Uninstalling and reinstalling the Zotero app wouldn't have affected this in any way.

    If you already have a file on your computer, you can just drag it to Zotero to add it to your library, but you want to make sure your browser is configured to show PDFs at their original web URLs so that you can use the Save to Zotero button.
  • iainmack52
    Thanks for the advice, I'll read that, but the original issue was that the extension stopped working - if not after an update, then for no apparent reason. Reinstalling and keeping my personal settings did not fix the problem, I did that before opening this forum item. Reinstalling and deleting the personal settings seems to have fixed whatever it was.

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