Merge multiple word documents

benblabla
Hi,
I wrote the individual chapters of my bachelor's thesis in separate Word documents and inserted references using the Zotero plug-in. Now I want to merge the individual chapters into one large text. However, the Zotero links are lost in the process. I have already read through this discussion: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/57365/merging-multiple-word-documents-with-references
My current status is:
-the Word links work in the individual chapters. It is also possible to create a bibliography.
- I tried creating a completely empty Word document, set the Zotero preferences there, and then copied a chapter into it (and refreshed). The source links were not transferred.
- I also tried inserting a second chapter into an existing chapter and clicked refresh. Again, the links were not transferred.
What could be the reason for this? What else could I try?

  • dstillman
    It really is as simple as copying and pasting. Zotero citations are just standard Word fields, and Word will copy them with a standard copy and paste. That part doesn't have anything to do with Zotero. It's no different from using, say, Insert → Date and Time, checking "Update automatically" so that it inserts a Word field, and then copy that to another document. If you're pasting in some special way (e.g., Paste Special and choosing Unformatted Text) or if something on your computer is modifying the clipboard (e.g., a clipboard manager), you might end up with flattened text.

    To be clear, though, what exactly do you mean when you say that the "Zotero links are lost"? Do you have field shading on? If you click within the pasted citation and click Add/Edit Citation, does the citation show up in the citation dialog, or is it empty?
  • benblabla
    Thanks for the quick reply.

    To be clear: I am not talking about a citation "text", but about source references (author, year, page number). My text mainly contains paraphrases with source references. And these source references can no longer be opened/edited with Zotero when I insert them into a new document.

    So the ‘text’ of the citation "(author, year, page)" is transferred. However, when I click on this citation to edit it, a blank zotero-field opens in the new document. Zotero does not recognise it as a citation that has already been cited.

    But I also didn't know that you can switch field-shading on and off.
  • dstillman
    edited 3 days ago
    You should turn field shading on and test what I say — inserting an active date field and copying that.
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