Cant Disable Automatic Citations

notsoeazy
Zotero does not respond anymore when I disable the checkbox "automatically update citations."
Tried to do it in an empty document. When adding one citation from the plugin Zotero crashed after a few minutes: 1469453085

I am working on a large document of 500 pages with around 2000 citations on a mac. As I was never able to uncheck the "automatically update citations," I tried to deal with long waiting times - sometimes longer (more than 30 minutes), sometimes not working at all, sometimes a bit faster (5-10 minutes). Today, for the very first time, I could add several citations without any! waiting time at all - it added the citations instantly. just wow. and without changing anything, copying documents, reopening, or whatever. after several errors, it just started to work smoothly out of nowhere. it is possible! but after saving the document, the magic was gone, and since then, it has been worse than ever, with Zotero crashing nonstop. I thought updating is a good idea. it made things worse with a new interface. since then, I could add in 8 hours, maybe three citations.
when I open the document preferences in the plugin and close it again, it also opens the document preferences every time I click on add/edit citation - the whole thing seems to be bugged, even without changing the settings: 242026484

I tried the debug steps - not the last of course, not feasible with 500 pages
only option to switch to windows?
  • adomasven
    When you disable automatic citation updates in a document, the first attempt to insert a citation after restarting Zotero will take a long time (as long as it used to take before). Afterwards, assuming the operation completes successfully, subsequent insertions will be much faster. This was true in both Zotero 6 and 7.

    Note that if the operation is pending on another document (say you pressed Document Preferences in your big document and Zotero is loading the information required to display the window) and you attempt to edit another document with Zotero, instead of seeing the dialog for the new document, you will get the dialog for the old document once Zotero gathers all the information. It seems like you got confused by this.

    Unfortunately the Word for Mac plugin is not as stable and fast as the other plugins. To improve speed and reliability your best bet is to split the document into multiple documents based on chapters and edit those separately, and only recombine at the end of your work. Another option is to use Word on Windows if you have access to a Windows computer as the plugin there is much faster and more stable.
  • notsoeazy
    Thanks! If I understand you correct there is a waiting time after unchecking the box for automatic citations?

    And is it possible to go back to former versions - I feel like this one is bringing me more problems than the version before. Also, when clicking on add citation, I cant instantly write in the field, but have to actively click on the field, otherwise he writes in the main zotero interface search field - that was better in the version before, where I could directly write in the plugin bar

  • adomasven
    Thanks! If I understand you correct there is a waiting time after unchecking the box for automatic citations?
    No. If you have a document where you previously unchecked automatic citation updates, if you restart Zotero, then the first operation in that document will be slow. Subsequent operations will then be fast, until your restart Zotero again.
    And is it possible to go back to former versions - I feel like this one is bringing me more problems than the version before.
    You can still download Zotero 6 from https://www.zotero.org/download/, but you should aim to upgrade to Zotero 7 after you submit this paper and if you are still having any issues report them to us and we will fix them.
    I cant instantly write in the field, but have to actively click on the field, otherwise he writes in the main zotero interface search field - that was better in the version before, where I could directly write in the plugin bar
    Could you create a video of your workflow in a new document that causes this and post it in a new thread describing the issue? Also submit a Report ID there.
  • notsoeazy
    Ahja okay. Well, it actually doesn't work at all to uncheck - when I uncheck, I can't use Zotero anymore, and when I close and reopen everything, the box is checked again.

    I try the video!
  • notsoeazy
    I cant replicate the issue iright now, but another bug seems to be this: a frozen image of the selected item - usually ending up with a error, where the citation was not added.
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u6908320/u5855z1fnq3gpxf3ahho.png

    Report IDs of the last hours of not added citations are the following:
    1237647975
    178817440
    1169410409
    1123769046
    27634375
    706906757
  • adomasven
    edited November 8, 2024
    Ahja okay. Well, it actually doesn't work at all to uncheck - when I uncheck, I can't use Zotero anymore, and when I close and reopen everything, the box is checked again.
    When you close the document preferences dialog, Zotero is still working in the background. You can check this under Help -> Debug Output Logging -> View Output. You should not Close or restart Zotero and allow processing your document, after which you can cite and it should be fast.
    JavaScript Error: "Document modified during update @[setCode:field.m:632]" {file: "resource://zotero-macword-integration/messagingGeneric.js" line: 216}
    Your report logs indicate that Zotero is having issues with your document because it's being modified while Zotero is updating it. You should make sure you don't edit it while Zotero is working on it.

    This shouldn't be a problem once you disable automatic citation updates as then Zotero will be fast in inserting citations.
  • notsoeazy
    Thank you so much - I will try again disabling the automatic citation
  • notsoeazy
    Update: I waited quite some time until I thought it was done and it worked. Automatization is off and now the citations are added instantly. This is absolutely awesome, thanks.
    The only difference is, maybe because it indicates that it is not automatically updated, the line under the citation:
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u6908320/epi39ei6c4mfi1ddkwpd.png

    PS.: The problem with writing in the plugin search field happens in this version only when using two monitors (without a bug report)
  • dstillman
    edited November 8, 2024
    Yes, that's what the line indicates. It's telling you that you need to Refresh (which may take a while) before the citations are finalized.

    https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/citations_underlined
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