LibreOffice Writer: insert annotation pop-up is not coming to the front

ghiozzo
edited 3 days ago
In my setup of Linux Mint (22.2), Libre Office Writer (24.2.7.2) and Zotero (7.0.24) I am encountering the following problem:

Whenever I hit "add/insert citation" , the pop up to choose an entry from zotero is fully or partially hidden behind the writer-window/my document. I need to go down to the task bar and click on Zotero and bring the pop up to the front from there.

Wether it's fully hidden or partially hidden depends on wether I have something selected in Zotero or not. If nothing is selected, it is fully hidden. If I have something selected in Zotero, then the drop-down part of the pop up shows up in front, but not the more important filter-textbox-part.

Is this a Zotero-Problem or something I need to report over at the Linux-Mint-corner?

Various System informations from Libre Office:
Version: 24.2.7.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 420(Build:2)
CPU threads: 4; OS: Linux 6.15; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: de-CH (en_CA.UTF-8); UI: de-DE
Ubuntu package version: 4:24.2.7-0ubuntu0.24.04.4
Calc: threaded
  • Krahoz
    Hello!

    I believe I had the same problem with Cinnamon. I reported the problem to the Mint community, but the problem wasn't solved. I've noticed that the problem occurred at some point after a cinnamon update some time ago. I found no solution to that, until I found - I believe recently made - a cinnamon extension for stealing focus. I'm using Xfce now, so I can't check directly, but I think the Cinnamon extension is called "Focus New Window". After downloading and adding the extension, go to its settings and shut down the option to steal focus for listed programs only.
    This should fix the problem.
  • iagogv
    edited 2 days ago
    For completeness, I got a similar problem on Debian 13 (+XFCE), with the Actions and Tags for Zotero plugin: https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-actions-tags/issues/557
  • ghiozzo
    edited 3 days ago
    For me, this also happens in Windows & LibreOfficeWriter; so I think it actually is a Zotero-issue or LibreOffice issue, after all, not Linux-specific. (I allowed myself to change the title of this thread here accordingly)
  • adomasven Zotero Team
    This has been explained numerous times on these forums. Window focus is controlled by the OS, and Zotero has limited control over whether its windows appear on top or not. Zotero informs every OS that it runs on - Windows, Linux, and macOS - that it wants to pop open a window on top. Whether your OS respects that is a matter of your particular configuration.
  • ghiozzo
    Hi @adomasven. Therefore: if on my windows zotero manages to pop up in front of Word but not so in front of LibreOfficeWriter, then the blame is on LibreOfficeWriter? Do I need to report the problem in that corner?
  • adomasven Zotero Team
    Possibly, although not necessarily. In my experience minimizing Zotero, instead of switching to another application without minimizing is what usually causes the Zotero citation dialog to not appear.

    I've not investigated how LibreOffice and Word manage their windows, or what causes the difference, but generally with some fiddling you can get the Zotero citation dialog to appear over all word processors on all OSes.
  • ghiozzo
    I've tried to recreate the error on Windows, and suddenly it all worked. Then I started playing around with window sizing of Zotero, and the results are very inconsistent:

    If fully minimized (to the taskbar), the pop-up is hidden
    If maximized (full screen) or mediumized (part of screen) it's very inconsistent, but a change between the three options seems to switch behaviour; so sometimes it works fully max'ed, sometimes not but then in medium.

    So all weirdly-good at least on windows, thank you for your kind support.
  • iagogv
    Whether your OS respects that is a matter of your particular configuration.
    But, if only happens with Zotero?
Sign In or Register to comment.