Encounter XML Parsing Error: no root element found when using Zotero

denleungkc · April 30, 2025

Report ID: 782086140

I recenlty used Zotero Integration plugin in Obsidian to import Zotero data.
Everything was fine when importing Zotero pdf metadata and annotations to Obsidian notes.
As I noted the incorrect rotation of a PDF image captured in Zotero and so I manually adjusted the rotation of this image in the obsidian file. I then repeated the import from Zotero to Obsidian. During the importing process, I encoutered the error message below:

XML Parsing Error: no root element found
Location: chrome://zotero/content/integration/progressBar.xhtml
Line Number 1, Column 1:

Apparently the imported metadata and annotations are fine.
Afterward, I have encoutered these error messages in less than a second whenever importing the Zotero items to Obsidian.

I have tried to uninstall the Zotero 7 with checking "Remove my Zotero personal data and customizations" and the Zotero Integration plugin in Obsidian. But the problem still persists.

Could you please advise and help. Thanks.

dstillman · April 30, 2025

We haven't been able to reproduce that, but many people have reported it. It's harmless.

It might be fixed in the Zotero 7.1 beta.

timpaul · May 6, 2025

I get the same message, a copy of it pasted here. It pops up when using the Word add-in to cite or modify citations or even closing the Document Preferences

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u4588823/l2vhw2rx0tb5gcpfczin.png

Zotero 7.0.15 (64-bit) Windows 11

dstillman · May 6, 2025

See above.

timpaul · May 6, 2025

Yep. I posted in case it helps reproducing the problem

dstillman · May 6, 2025

No, this won't be fixed in Zotero 7.0. The only question is whether it's fixed in 7.1, and we'll need people who are actually seeing it to let us know.

timpaul · May 6, 2025

>The only question is whether it's fixed in 7.1,
I understand. No rush from my perspective ... "it's harmless"

> and we'll need people who are actually seeing it to let us know
Yeah, that's why I posted ... I'm seeing it ;-) Happy to help further ... as required

dstillman · May 6, 2025

Well, you're welcome to try the Zotero 7.1 beta and let us know if you still see it. But there's no particular need to do that if you don't already want to run the beta for other reasons.

timpaul · May 6, 2025

Happy to

timpaul · May 6, 2025

Installed and tested the same steps that produced the error in 7.0.15.

I did not see the error with 7.1-beta.35+03b33d995

I'll stay with the beta

dstillman · May 6, 2025

That's great. Thanks for checking.

Adam Owsinski · 2025-12-23T14:57:38+00:00

I just got this error after the Windows update, and it's happening every time I create a new citation or insert a reference list, very annoying. Thanks ahead of time
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u11147311/ghurs8xyaqppl90sd7zi.jpg

dstillman · 2025-12-23T14:58:41+00:00

Adam: Again, that message is harmless, we haven't been able to reproduce it, and it's fixed in the Zotero 8 beta. For now, you'll need to just ignore it or switch to the beta.