Word could not communicate with Zotero (forum solutions did not work!?)

Kellychakmarx
Error ID: 1402449307
Mac OS X: 10.6.4 (update did not help)
Firefox: 3.6.3
Add-ons: Zotero 2.0.3
Add-ons: Word integration:3.0b2

Hi,
I read through multiple threads addressing similar problems but could not find a solution:

When starting Zotero in Word I always get the error message "Word could not communicate with Zotero...)
i tried to deinstall all add-ons and reinstall, updates, etc nothing worked.
Please help!
Thanks a lot
Kelly
  • adamsmith
    i tried to deinstall all add-ons and reinstall, updates, etc nothing worked.
    It's a bad idea to try to save time by not being specific about what you have tried so far. We can't know what "etc" means in your case.
    E.g. have you tried this?
    http://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_troubleshooting#communication_error

    Have you disabled all other FF add-ons?
  • Kellychakmarx
    thanks, yep, I tried all this: no success
    I am using German Word and english FF
    Please be so kind and advice
    Cheers
    Jochen
  • Simon
    edited June 23, 2010
    Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal, and, with Firefox open, try typing the following two commands, each followed by a return:

    ls -lad /Users/Shared
    ls -lad /Users/Shared/.zotero*
    What output do you get for each?
  • Kellychakmarx
    ls -lad /Users/Shared
    drwxrwxrwt 6 root wheel 204 Jun 25 23:53 /Users/Shared

    ls -lad /Users/Shared/.zotero*
    prw-r--r-- 1 kellychak-marx wheel 0 Jun 25 23:53 /Users/Shared/.zoteroIntegrationPipe_kellychak-marx
  • Simon
    Try

    echo $LOGNAME
  • Kellychakmarx
    kellychak-marx

    (no space in between, if that's the question ;-)
  • Simon
    edited June 25, 2010
    If, with Word and Firefox open, you type

    echo 'MacWord addCitation' > "/Users/Shared/.zoteroIntegrationPipe_$LOGNAME"
    do you see a dialog asking you to add a citation to your document?
  • Kellychakmarx
    A window opens:

    Zetero Integration Error
    Firefox could not load the component required to communicate with your word processor. Please ensure that the appropriate Firefox extension is installed and try again
  • Simon
    Can you follow the instructions to enable real-time debug output here, and then try adding a citation? Email us the entire log at support@zot...org.
  • Kellychakmarx
    Thanks Simon,
    just sent out the log via e-mail.
    I hope I did everything correctly and the log is any help?
    Thanks for your ongoing support!!!
    Cheers
    Jochen
  • dstillman
    Does the output you sent include trying to add a citation? No output for that is showing in the log.
  • Kellychakmarx
    I did add a citation but I had the impression that that wasn't trcked by teh log.
    I hope you can help me to get it tracked via the Log. Let me tell you waht I did:

    1) set extensions.zotero.debug.log = True
    2) Paste ”/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin” into the Terminal window
    3) I tried to add a citation (same error message as usual) but now new log text was created in the Terminal window
    5) I then closed the terminal
    6) tried to add a citation
    7) repeated point 2) and sent you the log
    8) I also tried 2) and clear the log (cmd-k) and repeat the other steps

    How can I log the new actions?

    Thanks
    Jochen
  • dstillman
    edited June 27, 2010
    The output you sent us (i.e., Zotero output while starting Firefox) is irrelevant to the issue. It's possible adding a citation doesn't log anything, but you should press Cmd-K to clear existing output immediately before trying. If something appears, send it to us.
  • Kellychakmarx
    OK I just tried again: I pasted the cmd to terminal, then cmd-K and tried to add a citation. Nothing was tracked in the Terminal log window :-(
  • Kellychakmarx
    edited July 12, 2010
    Any suggestions please? Even after the latest update it's still not running: same error message!
  • Simon
    You could try creating a new Firefox profile, but we're pretty much out of ideas here. It looks like the Zotero MacWord Integration Firefox extension isn't loading properly, probably due to issues with pythonext, but it's not something that we've seen before and there doesn't seem to be any output to point us in the right direction.
  • fmburgos
    Hi,

    Same problem here.

    Mac OX 10.4.11
    Word 2008 (Spanish version)
    Firefox 3.5.2
    Add-ons: Zotero 2.0.3
    Add-ons: Word integration:3.0b2

    Knowing that this can be a issue of incompatibly between the plug-in and other language versions of word, I tried the instruction of "Click the “Preferences” button next to “Zotero MacWord Integration” and then click “Reinstall Word Components.” the process just freeze, and the "reinstall word component" window stays there. If I do the same with Word open, I get the message "zotero macword integration has been successfully install, but Word must be restarted before it can be used". I close word, open again, and when I tried to add a citation I get again the message "Word could not communicate with Zotero..."

    I remember in a preview installation that I had to copy a file form zotero and paste it in some Word folder in order to work with Word in a different language, can be this be a similar case?

    Is an option to install the preview version of Zotero (which was working fine) until this problem if solve? I ask because I am not sure if install a preview version I will have other problems.

    Thanks very much for your help.

    Manuel
  • fmburgos
    Solved!

    What I did not notice was that my word version is Spanish (and English! too) So i did a suggested in one of the pages of the forum: I copied the zotero folder for my "micrsosoft user data" in English, and past it to its equivalent folder in Spanish, after deleting the previews one.

    Manuel
  • Kellychakmarx
    edited August 2, 2010
    unfortunately I could not locate a "microsoft user data" folder. I only found the equivalent to it in German.
    In the meantime I reinstalled word and all the plugins. I also deleted the word script folder called "Zotero" under microsoft/userdata/scipt.
    After making sure that "Zotero" did not appear in the script menu I reinstalled the Zotero and the plugins. This time I was not asked to provide a script folder location and the Zotero script menu was not generated in word. After selection the firefox plugin / extensions 7 reinstall, the script was generate and HURRA it now works.

    I guess in my case the word userdata was messed up with multiple Zotero script folders and after deleting the Zotero script folders and reinstalling the plugins it worked....
  • ahrens101
    edited September 25, 2012
    ZONEALARM could be the problem. I also had the response "Word plugin can't communicate with Zotero" out of the blue. My set up is: Windows 7, Zotero 3.0.8, Zotero Word Integration 3.1.8, Firefox 15.0.1. I read an older thread on this forum, that is now closed, which speculated about the bad influence of Zonealarm Toolbar. I tried uninstalling Zonealarm Toolbar, I also uninstalled/reinstalled the plugins, upgraded Firefox to version 16 beta and downgraded it to 14, restarted the system, all to no avail. What fixed it was uninstalling Zonealarm completely using the Control Panel Add/remove Programs. So now Zotero works but I am limited to Windows Firewall.
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