Adding Zotero Citations in OpenOffice

Some of you had trouble figuring out how to install the Zotero plugin that makes your Zotero talk to OpenOffice. I did it on my own computer, and I think I figured out our issue.

If you think you installed the plugin, but can’t figure out whether you did:

First, go into OpenOffice.

Open up a Text Document.

Check out the Toolbar. You should see, all the way on the left, a symbol that looks something like “r” with a little red “z”-for-Zotero next to it.

That’s the button you click to get to the screen that allows you to insert citations. Once you see this screen:

you’ll do the same thing as the Word users, so skip to the Word tutorial.

If Zotero doesn’t show up in your toolbar, follow these instructions to reinstall (I stole/adapted these from the Zotero website):

• In Firefox, go to Tools→Add-ons→Extensions. (If you don’t see “Zotero OpenOffice Integration” in Tools→Add-ons→Extensions, install it.)
  Should look like this:
  

  Firefox's Extensions Manager window, with OpenOffice plugin installed

• Click the “Preferences”/“Options” button next to  “Zotero OpenOffice Integration”.
  You should see this:
  
• Click “Reinstall Extension.” You should see a series of prompts, like this:
  

  First prompt

  

  This prompt should open up at the same time as the desktop shows you where the extension file is located.

  Select “Manual Installation.”

  

  An example of a window that the desktop would open to show you the location of your .oxt extension file.

  Double-click on the .oxt file that the computer highlights for you. This should take you into OpenOffice, where you’ll see a prompt like this:

  

  Click "Ok."

  You’ll see this, confirming that the plugin has been installed:

  

  Now, return to step 1, at the top of this post, and look for the red Z; proceed.