3.0a3 Word 2007 shut down error

piersm
Since installing Zotero 2.0b7.6 add-on for Firefox and the 3.0a3 Word plugin on MS Office 2007 (my PC is running Windows 7 professional 32-bit) I have been experiencing problems with Word and Zotero.

First, there are no buttons and the Zotero plugin does not work. The zotero.dot template is located in C:\Users\myname\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP and Zotero functions appear to be available in the macros view. Second,MS Word no longer closes down normally but reports:

Microsoft Office Word has stopped working.
A problem caused the programme to stop working correctly. Windows will close the programme and notify you if a solution is available.

If anybody has any suggestions for getting both to work together or completely removing Zotero so that MS Word functions correctly (deleting the template did not help), I would be grateful.
  • dstillman
    If the shutdown problem persists after deleting Zotero.dot (which presumably also removes Zotero from the templates list), what makes you think the issue is with Zotero?
  • piersm
    Good question. I made the assumption that the issue is with Zotero because the problem with the error report only occured after I installed the plugin and tried using it. Deleting the Zotero.dot did not remove the Zotero macros from macro view and therefore I cotinued to see Zotero as the most likely source of these issues. Of course, the problem could quite likely be related to Windows 7 - I am successfully running Zotero on three other PCs in various locations all on Windows XP with Office 2007.

    Unfortunately my knowledge of how these things work is limited - hence the wild assumptions. I've run MS Office diagnostics and that does not report any problems which leaves me feeling a little stuck. Are there any other changes which the installation would have made to Word which I need to undo?
  • dstillman
    Deleting the Zotero.dot did not remove the Zotero macros from macro view and therefore I cotinued to see Zotero as the most likely source of these issues.
    Does Zotero.dot show up in Tools->Templates and Add-ins? If so, be sure you're checking the right STARTUP path (which should be displayed at the bottom of that window).

    If I uncheck Zotero.dot from Templates and Add-ins, the Zotero macros disappear from the Macros window.
  • piersm
    Dan, thank you for pursuing this. I managed to get as far as removing the macros but not all references to zotero.dot. Word continued to display and error on closing. Keeping your earlier comment in mind, I thought I would try creating a new user account. Having done this the plugin installed and ran correctly and Word shut down was normal. The original account contiues to have problems which suggests something has gone horribly wrong with my profile in Windows.

    I'll continue to look at this in the morning and find a work around. Thanks again for responding - I can see you are very busy with this forum. Hopefully the problem will be sorted soon.

    Cheers.
  • dstillman
    There's probably not all that much that could be wrong. But make sure you're using the right STARTUP directory and search for any other copies of Zotero.dot. You can also try deleting Normal.dot (again, in the correct directory) to reset some Word settings.
  • dcades
    Did either of you ever find a solution to this problem? I recently upgraded to Zotero 2.0 from 1.0 (which was working fine with Windows 7 and Word 2007) and since the upgrade i am having the same shutdown problems with word. Any solutions?
  • dcades
    Well I found something that fixed the problem with both Zotero and Word. For me it turned out to be a Registry Key problem with Word. The solution is here: http://www.edbott.com/weblog/?p=1771. Once i deleted the data folder mentioned in this article I had no problems with Word crashing and no problems with Zotero Cite while you Write working.

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