In-text citations have large gaps due to Zotero field codes with excessive tabs

mcdn
edited November 4, 2024
Having issues in Word with big gaps inbetween (short __________________________________ citations et al) just as shown here using underscore to represent tab spacing.

I have been trying to change formats etc. following advice on similar formatting issues and none of it worked because the problem is the field codes inserted by the Zotero addon.

I found that the field code for this citation contains excessive tabs as follows:

ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"TEXT","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Surname \n\\tab{}\\tab{}\\tab{}\\tab{}\\tab{}\\tab{}P. Smith {\\i{}et al.}, 2021)

Tried deleting tabs but it won't take. Any advice would be much appreciated.
  • adomasven
    You should edit the author field of the item that is causing you issues in Zotero and make sure there are no empty spaces or tabs in it. Then press Refresh in the Zotero tab in Word.
  • mcdn
    Thanks, I had tried that but there isn't any tabbed or empty space in the author field.

    Also, the field structure above is programmatic I think; I can't see how this could randomly change but who knows.
  • adamsmith
    So is this just a single item or does it happen in the whole document?
  • mcdn
    It is several items but not all and, to make it stranger, they were fine to begin with, although Zotero did update it's software during that time which made me wonder why the errors appeared.
  • adamsmith
    Try switching to a different style and back, that might work? Do you see the weird tabs anywhere in the metadata in the field codes, or are they really just in the 'formatted citation' field?
    I don't think we've every seen this -- which citation styles are you using?
  • mcdn
    Changing styles or fonts doesn't help this, and the document isn't using any weird fonts or styles at all, pretty standard. As for the citation style, it is Harvard, so again pretty common.

    TBH, I'm scratching my head with this one and the only workaround is to manually delete the tabbed space in Word but the minute I add another citation or refresh the bibliography, it's back. So that's something I could do at the end, but it's not ideal.

    Anyway, thanks for trying to help.
  • adamsmith
    sorry, which Harvard style specifically? And are you seeing this in different styles (Say, APA) too?
  • adomasven
    @mcdn Does inserting that item in different documents also produce the same issue? What about other items in the same document? Where did you import this item from?
  • mcdn
    @adamsmith It's Elsvier Harvard and the article in question is referenced from Scopus as are others in the document, some are fine, another 2 exhibit the same tabbed spacing.

    I have tried it in another document briefly and there is no issue, APA/MLA formats in Word are fine. As mentioned no amount of changing font formats has any effect, including changing text justification.

    As mentioned, it was fine to begin with, then Zotero updated, then the issue. I'm not saying that's the problem, but that's the sequence of events.

    It's a very long document so I can't recreate it in another. I think I'll just delete the tabbed space at the end as a workaround and not refresh the bibliography thererafter.

    Out of curiosity, do you know where this formatting in the Zotero field comes from?

    "\n\\tab{}\\tab{}\\tab{}\\tab{}\\tab{}\\tab{}"
  • adomasven
    Could you submit a Debug ID inserting the items that give you issue in your document? And another Debug ID, inserting it in a new document where the issue is not present?
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