Right click doesn't work

rutyggi
All of a sudden, right-clicking on an item stops working.

It should show the menu used with various options (for instance, the one to copy the citation to the clipboard).

I have no idea how to reproduce it because it happens after some time I use the software.

How can I debug it?

It started to happen with Zotero 8. It never happened with previous versions.
  • northword
    I suspect there is an error in the localisation configuration of a plugin's menu, for example, the FTL message is missing.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    @rutyggi: This is caused by Better BibTeX. Report it to the BBT developer on GitHub.
  • synderlic
    This has been happening to me too, but I don't use a BBT plugin.
  • synderlic
    I see the earlier post now; I'll try to vet the plugins.
  • northword
    edited 5 days ago

    2026/4/15 Edit: This is an outdated comment, which misunderstood the cause of the error.

    ---

    I believe I can now reproduce this issue. I tested both the linter and translate plugins; both have menus registered using Zotero.MenuManager.

    Steps to Reproduce:


    1. Open Zotero and install either the linter or translate plugin.

    2. Right-click on any item to open the context menu -> The menu opens normally.

    3. Disable the plugin installed in step 1.

    4. Try opening the context menu again -> The menu fails to open, and the console logs: Uncaught (in promise) undefined.

    5. Re-enable the plugin and try opening the menu again -> The menu opens normally.

    Potential Cause:

    The menu requires a direct l10nID, which necessitates developers to inject FTL files into the mainWindow. Following best practices, plugin developers clean up their resources when the plugin is disabled. The call chain is as follows:

    hook shutdown -> onShutdown -> onMainWindowUnload -> remove ftl

    Reference: hooks.ts (Lines 109-112)

    In step 3, the plugin clears its FTL resources. Consequently, when the menu is opened again, it likely triggers an l10n.translateXX error that isn't properly caught.

    Suggested Improvement:

    I believe this should be addressed on the Zotero side. Regardless of a plugin's state, its functionality should not prevent the Zotero context menu from appearing. We could perhaps handle l10n errors by suppressing them and injecting placeholder text for the affected menu items, such as [missing text for ${ftl-key}].

    But if this is indeed a plugin-side issue, please let me know.

    ---

    Not sure if this should go to the dev mailing list, but it does seem relevant to this issue.

    CC @dstillman , @hsiangyu_wong
  • emilianoeheyns
    If a missing l10nID causes the menu to not show, that would explain one problem I have been having in BBT, as I have menu entries without an l10nID. But in that case the problem is intermittent, since there are cases where having no l10nID does work for me, and others where at least the non-BBT part of the menu works as expected.I have a case out on zotero-dev about this issue or something closely related to this.
  • emilianoeheyns
    Menu has been fixed in BBT.
  • rdiaz02
    I think at least some plugins, isolated, still produce this behavior (right-click not working). And some that, isolated, don't, sometimes produce it when in combination.

    1. BBT and arXiv Workflow, isolated
    This is fully reproducible for me (Zotero 9.0 , Linux; latest, as of now, versions of all plugins mentioned below):

    - Start Zotero with only BBT enabled.
    - Right click on an entry: you see the menu.
    - Go to Tools -> Plugins, and disable BBT.
    - Go to a reference, right click no longer works.

    (If you re-enable BBT, things work again)

    I see the same problem with the plugin arXiv Workflow for Zotero.

    2. Plugins that, isolated, to not lead the issue but can when in combination

    Some plugins that, isolated, do not (seem to) show the issue can, at times, display it in combination. For example, with either of Beaver, PDFerrer or Actions and Tags (AT) I can not, when they are the only enabled plugin, trigger the problem. But in combination I often can:

    - Beaver and PDFerret: disable Beaver, no issue.
    - Beaver and PDFerret: disable PDFerret, no issue. Enable PDFerret: right-click no longer works.


    - Beaver and Actions and Tags (AT), disable and enable AT: right click no longer works (this is not 100% reproducible, though, and often takes a couple of enable/disable cycles)
    - Beaver and Actions and Tags, disable Beaver: no issue.

    - AT and PDFerret: I am unable to get right click to not work.


    3. BBT and arXiv when combined with others: it is the inactivation of BBT/arXiv that produces the problem

    If one combines plugins that, isolated, lead to the problem (here, BBT or arXiv) with plugins that, isolated, do not show the issue, one sees the same pattern when one disables the plugin that, isolated, shows the issue (renabling the plugin that, when disabled, led to the problem, often gets things to work again):

    - BBT and Beaver, disable BBT: right click no longer works.
    - BBT and Beaver, disable Beaver: no issue.


    - BBT and Actions and Tags (AT), disable BBT: right click no longer works.
    - BBT and AT, disable AT: no issue.


    - arXiv and PDFerret, disable arXiv, right click no longer works.
    - arXiv and PDFerret, disable PDFerret: no issue


    - arXiv and AT: disable arXiv, right click no longer works.
    - arXiv and AT, disable AT: no issue


    4. Other cases
    The problem happens, however, also when doing other actions that are much harder to reproduce. But in these cases, I am not sure that enabling/disabling some plugin always fixes the problem.
  • hsiangyu_wong Zotero Team
    Thanks for the discussions. We will try to give a fix.
  • mjthoraval
    The problem is not limited to disabling a plugin.
    If I restart Zotero with Beaver and BBT plugins enabled together, the first right-click works, but then it does not appear anymore.
    Some other reports:
    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/510980/#Comment_510980
    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/130909/right-click-not-working-in-zotero-9

    Also reported on the Beaver GitHub with the Attanger plugin:
    https://github.com/jlegewie/beaver-zotero/issues/214
  • Joscha
    I see a similar pattern as @rdiaz02 with Beaver and Attanger. The order seems to matter:

    1. When I enable Beaver or Attanger alone, everything works
    2. When I enable Attanger followed by Beaver, everything works
    3. When I enable Beaver followed by Attanger, the right-click menu is broken

    I am not sure about the order on a normal startup but the ordering might explain the inconsistency.

    Note that Beaver uses Zotero.MenuManager.registerMenu() and Attanger (I think) uses the ztoolkit.Menu.register.
  • hsiangyu_wong Zotero Team
    There will be a fix soon.
  • emilianoeheyns
    Is there something I should have done differently/can do differently to resolve this until a fix comes out?
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    This should be fixed in the latest beta.
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