Endless dialogs after adding bibliography

cwtownsend · March 17, 2026

I get endless dialogs after adding the bibliography to a large document. It says "You have modified this citation since Zotero generated it. Do you want to keep your modifications and prevent future updates?" I tried clicking no for every dialog but they kept coming. And then I got a dialog that contains the entire bibliography and the message was so long that I couldn't click on the no button. Somehow I exited out of that dialog by pressing keys and I was able to get to stop. Then I was able to control-Z my way back to before adding the bibliography.

Any ideas what went wrong? How can I avoid this mess when adding the bibliography? And I'm using the latest version of Zotero 8.

adomasven · March 17, 2026

What word processor are you using? See Troubleshooting Errors in Word Processor Documents.

cwtownsend · March 17, 2026

MS Word

badgett · July 30, 2026

I have this problem, "you have modified". It is infrequent, yet vexing as both options sound bad. Lose modifications or prevent future modification. My best work around has been to delete the citation from the Word document and insert it again.

I am using Zotero 9.0.6, 64 bit on Windows

badgett · 2026-08-31T03:22:00+00:00

Here is another instance of this very frustrating warning as both options for user sound bad. Any news about improving the instructions in the pop-up or how to avoid this? I am using Zotero 9.0.6 (64 bit) on MS Word.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u500/m2ws7qvy8xpymakr8u2l.jpg

poettli · 2026-08-31T03:59:41+00:00

This might be useful: https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_usage#customizing_citations

badgett · 2026-08-31T04:10:10+00:00

Thanks for quick reply. So I should investigate when this popup occurs whether I have edited the citation's metadata in the library. That would be uncommon for me other than adding a note. But if this is the cause, then it would be best to click "Yes."

But, to me, the wording of the warning is quite vague and does not suggest an underlying cause. My best guess was that the citation number or manuscript formatting assigned to the footnote has been changed since the citation was first inserted. Also, the alert's statement, "Clicking 'Yes' will prevent Zotero..." reads like is impending.

Is there a way I can submit a bug report to Zotero?

aborel · 2026-08-31T05:07:44+00:00

This message can happen if you have manually modified a reference in your document, not your library. In your screenshot, I'm guessing an in-text citation numbered as 4 was modified to 5. There can be a good reason for that, but most of the time it is better to let Zotero manage everything as automatically as possible.

In https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_usage#customizing_citations you will find ways to customize citations (when necessary) that should not trigger the warning message.

badgett · 2026-08-31T05:18:53+00:00

I have noticed that the pop-up often has a discrepancy in the citation number - one digit. I never manually edit the citation number, but when i add citations, maybe I should manually force a document refresh so all citation numbers are updated before I move onto adding another citation.

Another scenario might be that I may be working with collaborators on OneDrive which is not compatible with Zotero, so I have a second instance of the document open in the Word app. Perhaps when I add a citation in the app, I need to force a page refresh on the Word document that is embedded in the Internet browser.

Still, it would help if the language on the pop-up alert could be more specific.