Adding a citation to a footnote

angelarussell
Hi all,

I am using the Estuaries and Coasts referencing style. I want to add citations to footnotes but when I try Zotero brings up the error 'you have already added a citation etc. would you like to modify Yes or No; but this is incorrect because there is no previous citation entered into the footnote, and regardless, I am unable to select Yes or No. It is as if Zotero freezes and I need to quit and close the program. How do I add my citation to a footnote without changing my referencing style within the document?
  • adamsmith
    In general this works just fine, including with that style.
    Which version of Zotero, which word processor and version, does this work in a new document?
  • dstillman
    Assuming it works in a new, empty document, for the existing document, see Troubleshooting Errors in Word Processor Documents.

    I'm not sure what message this is referring to, though. "You have already added a citation" isn't a message in Zotero.
  • angelarussell
    This is the error and I've since discovered that it is not restricted to footnotes. I cannot add any citations at all now. However, there are no problems adding to a new Word document. The version of Word I am running is 2311, Build 16.0.17029.20028, 64-bit. The Zotero version is 6.0.36






  • angelarussell

    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u13012569/y094qtr9bhm50uubdom6.png
  • dstillman
    That means what it says. You apparently modified the citation directly in the document, which you almost never want to do — you want to customize the citation using the citation dialog.

    You should be able to click No to reset the citation and then customize it properly. If for some reason you can't do that, you should just delete the citation and reinsert it again, and then customize it from the citation dialog (using Prefix, if you added the "e.g." on purpose).
  • angelarussell
    No, I haven't modified any citations, I am trying to add a new citation. It is doing this for all citations I try to add. As I mentioned, I am also unable to select Yes or No in this dialogue box...it is not responding to either as expected. I am not new to Zotero and I often modify citations as I find new information and easily respond to this dialogue box to do this. The weird thing about the dialogue box is that it refers to different authors than the one I am trying to add in the footnote (i.e. I want to add Zoller, 2023 not Korochan 2006 etc). Your answer doesn't explain why it is happening with the whole library not just this one example????
  • dstillman
    It's not about the new citation you're trying to add — it's about the existing citation shown in the dialog. You should find it and replace it, and then avoid editing citations directly in documents going forward. If you're seeing this all the time, you're not using Zotero correctly.
  • angelarussell
    Ahhh got it! Thank you so much. This fixed the issue.
  • angelarussell
    Ok so I have changed all my Vogt citations to the double box format with each entered as Vogt,G and the intext citation is (Vogt, G 2021). Which of course needs to be (Vogt, 2021). Something I'm not getting obviously?????
  • dstillman
    the intext citation is (Vogt, G 2021). Which of course needs to be (Vogt, 2021).
    You said you're using the Estuaries and Coasts style, which doesn't put a comma there.

    For the "G", see https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/given_name_disambiguation — you either have other "Vogt" citations or you're not citing the actual item you fixed in your library.
  • angelarussell
    ok let's go back a step....

    when I add a new citation it comes over as Erin M. J. Morgan in the two-box style and looks like Morgan, Erin M.J. if I click on the single-box style.

    If I add this to my Word document with it in the two-box style, without making any alterations, it looks like (Erin M. J. Morgan et al. 2013).

    What do I need to do to simply get this (Morgan et al., 2013)

    Yes I am using estuaries and coasts
  • dstillman
    when I add a new citation it comes over as Erin M. J. Morgan in the two-box style and looks like Morgan, Erin M.J. if I click on the single-box style.
    It sounds like you have this backwards. The button shows you the other mode, not the one you're in. It's just a question of having one field vs. two — you can tell the difference by hovering over the fields. You want two separate fields, so you can enter "Morgan" in "(last)" and "Erin M.J." in "(first)".
    What do I need to do to simply get this (Morgan et al., 2013)
    Again, Estuaries and Coasts doesn't use a comma before the year.
  • angelarussell
    Why doesn't it just do this when I send citations over using the zotero browser extension?

    From what you're saying I need to change it from Erin M. J. Morgan to Morgan Erin M.J. This is for the two separate fields....do I need to do anything in the single box or is that automatic?
  • dstillman
    The vast majority of the time it should just work and you shouldn't need to adjust it. If you're seeing it saved to a single field from somewhere, you'd have to provide an example URL so we can take a look.
    From what you're saying I need to change it from Erin M. J. Morgan to Morgan Erin M.J. This is for the two separate fields....do I need to do anything in the single box or is that automatic?
    I don't know what you're asking here, but I really think you're overthinking this. Most of your items should be correct, and you can see how the two fields work if you just create an empty item. It's just a last name field and a first name field. There's really nothing to this.
  • angelarussell
    Hallelujah! I get it now.....The question now is if I correct all repeated authors, so they are identical and in the correct format, will my document automatically adjust all my citations/ or is there a way to update my document?
  • dstillman
    edited July 17, 2024
    The question now is if I correct all repeated authors, so they are identical and in the correct format, will my document automatically adjust all my citations
    Yes, as long as you haven't edited the citations manually and they're pointing to the correct items in the database. Most of this is covered in the documentation page I linked to above.
  • dstillman
    Your other thread, for reference: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/116053/how-author-names-should-look-in-zotero/p1
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