Add/Edit Citation button not working properly

Ane_Mulder · 2026-05-15T06:44:25+00:00

After the automatic update to Zotero 9 my Add/Edit Citation button is not working properly. After clicking on the button in my Word document, a pane appears with the title "Search for items to add to the citation" and underneath "No selected or open items" is visible. When selecting a book title, the item becomes blue, but nothing else is happening to help me to add a new note or edit an existing note? What is the problem and how can I solve it to continue working on my thesis in the way before by adding and editing citation in my footnotes? Ane Mulder

poettli · 2026-05-15T07:08:18+00:00

If I understand correctly, you just need to hit "Enter" twice on your keyboard, or click the check mark (Accept) at the top right of this window.

Ane_Mulder · 2026-05-15T08:25:13+00:00

Thanks for your response. I applied your comments to the window pane, but neither the "enter" twice nor the clicking on the check mark (accept) had an effect. The footnote number, however, appeared in my text right after clicking the button with {Citation}, but the making of my footnote, the citation, did not. If you have any further suggestions, please do so.

dstillman · 2026-05-15T12:12:10+00:00

To be clear, you need to 1) add the item to the citation with Enter/Return, double-click, or the + button and then 2) accept the dialog by pressing Enter/Return again or clicking the checkmark button.

If that's not working for you, can you provide a screenshot of what you're seeing on screen?

Ane_Mulder · 2026-05-18T08:50:32+00:00

Sorry for the delay in my response. It was weekend. Thanks a lot Stillman, it's working properly as you guided me. My next question is, how do I add prefixes and suffixes, and also how do I change these if I want? Greetings.

poettli · 2026-05-18T08:59:02+00:00

https://www.zotero.org/blog/zotero-8/

As before, once you’ve selected an item, you can click on its bubble to customize the citation with a page number, prefix, etc. It’s also now possible to add any locator — not just a page number — right from the search bar by typing the full or short name (e.g., “line 10” or “l. 10”) after the citation and pressing Enter/Return.

Ane_Mulder · 2026-05-18T12:30:37+00:00

Thanks. But unfortunately sorry, this is not clear? What/where is the bubble? What/where is the search bar?

poettli · 2026-05-18T12:42:22+00:00

From the citation dialog example in https://www.zotero.org/blog/zotero-8/:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u2119014/lklskzx643e735jxkonf.png

Ane_Mulder · 2026-05-19T06:30:16+00:00

Thanks a lot. This is of great help tome. It's working; that is to say now I know how it is working! Greetings, Ane Mulder