Duplicate references in word "a" and "b"

PatriciaJurado1996
I’m having an issue with Zotero + Word. Even though I have already merged or deleted all duplicate entries in my Zotero library, Word still shows all my in-text citations with “a” and “b” (e.g., Smith, 2020a; Smith, 2020b).

I have already:
– Checked that only one copy of each reference exists in my library.
– Refreshed citations in Word using the Zotero tab.
– Closed and reopened both Zotero and Word.
– Tried removing and reinserting one of the problematic citations.

Despite that, the “a” and “b” suffixes remain. It seems Word or Zotero is still linking to two internal citation keys for what should be the same source.

Does anyone know how to reset or relink all citations so Zotero recognizes they refer to the same reference?

Thanks a lot in advance!
  • damnation
    Items can survive in your document after deleting them.
    You'll need to delete and reinsert them, making sure you choose the correct one.
  • alfralma
    I have the same issue, and it feels like it is happening more and more often. Has anyone found a way to fix this? Manually deleting and reinserting the references is quite frustrating, since it is impossible to know whether I am choosing the right one...
  • aborel
    edited today at 8:40am
    Make sure you properly merge duplicates https://www.zotero.org/support/duplicate_detection#merging_duplicates , never just delete one or the other. If you do that, it should almost never happen.
    If it happens anyway, this certainly deserves a closer investigation but more details will be needed.
  • damnation
    To avoid some of it, do check your Zotero library for any duplicates and MERGE them (never delete).
    (see the "Duplicate Items" under "My library" on the left)
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