Word Bug: Zotero not showing my citations to insert

carolyn wolf-gould · 2026-10-29T13:34:52+00:00

I read about the new word bug and went through the suggested fixes. I made a new file with new citations, but when I try to insert them, I am unable to open this file. I closed word and zotero and restarted, made a new document, made sure track changes is off... I'm unsure what do do next.

adamsmith · 2026-10-29T14:13:55+00:00

Can you step back and report what you are actually seeing? I don't think there's a known bug, though some people do have issues with Word integration with different reasons

carolyn wolf-gould · 2026-10-29T18:45:33+00:00

Hi Adam. Thank you for responding. I see my references in the new file I created. But when I try to insert a reference, the box comes up as empty, or it shows one reference from the desired and another reference from the desired file (picture of this below). The reference about cape cod IS in the desired file, but none of the other references show up. The other reference is from a different file -- not the one I am in.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u3004651/qx88ekc0lp15w0zmrfrl.png

carolyn wolf-gould · 2026-10-29T18:46:24+00:00

Sorry, this was confusing. It shows one reference from the desired file and one from the undesired file.

carolyn wolf-gould · 2026-10-29T18:47:01+00:00

I have five other references in the file that are not available to insert.

dstillman · 2026-10-29T18:48:15+00:00

I'm not sure what "file" means here? If you're talking about a collection, click on Library in the bottom right to switch to the library browser and select the collection you want. But you can also just search for any item in your library from the search box in List mode — that's the point of it. The items you see by default are just Selected Items (what you have selected in the items list in Zotero) and Open Documents (what reader tabs you have open). You can ignore those and search for whatever you want.

carolyn wolf-gould · 2026-10-29T19:30:10+00:00

Yes, I am talking about a collection and I have selected the collection I want. But the references in that collection don't appear when I need to insert a reference.

carolyn wolf-gould · 2026-10-29T19:31:13+00:00

If you look at the image above, know that there are a number of other references in the collection that holds the Cape Cod reference.

adamsmith · 2026-10-29T19:33:09+00:00

No, you misunderstand the dialog. It shows:
a) individual items you currently have selected in Zotero ("Selected Items")
b) items you currently have open in the Zotero readers ("Open Documents")
b) any items that match your current search (you're not actually searching for anything, so no results.

If you want to look at items in a collection, click on "Library" at the bottom right as dstillman suggests and you'll then be able to select the library and add items from there.

carolyn wolf-gould · 2026-10-30T00:29:19+00:00

Thanks, I think I get it. How do I close the open document?

adamsmith · 2026-10-30T00:48:34+00:00

It's a tab in your Zotero application