Zotero's plugins for OpenOffice and NeoOffice make it easy to cite items from your Zotero library in OpenOffice documents.
The current version is 1.0b3. Please note that the OpenOffice/NeoOffice plugins are currently beta software, and we recommend backing up your documents regularly.
The plugins on this page are not compatible with the 1.5 Sync Preview. See the Sync Preview Word Processor Plugins section for more information.
Python support is broken in OpenOffice 3.0 on OS X, though a patch does exist (see below). Native support will not be restored until OOo 3.1 is released. In the interim, Mac users can also use OpenOffice 2.4 or NeoOffice.
Download OpenOffice extension (32KB, OOo3-compatible, v1.0b4)
Download NeoOffice for Mac extension (48KB)
Download OpenOffice for Mac X11 extension (48KB)
Usage is very similar to the MS Word plug-in. To see more, check out Daniel de Byl's screencast.
Upgrade Instructions
If you don't follow these instructions, the plugin may fail to install or you may receive communication errors when attempting to insert a citation.
- Remove the previous version of Zotero.oxt from Tools→Extension Manager…→My Extensions.
- Restart OpenOffice/NeoOffice.
- Install the new version of the plugin by either double-clicking on the .oxt file from the file system or clicking “Add…” in the Extension Manager and locating the .oxt file.
- Restart OpenOffice/NeoOffice again.
After following these steps, the Zotero citation toolbar should appear in the toolbar.
Patching OpenOffice 3.0 for Mac OS X
The good folks at EuroOffice have released a patch which appears to fix Python support in the Mac version of OpenOffice 3.0. OS X 10.5 “Leopard” users can simply download and install the patch from their site. OS X 10.4 “Tiger” users have to perform the patch manually, but the site includes instructions for how to do so. Once OpenOffice is patched, you should be able to use the Zotero plugin as you normally would.
http://www.multiracio.com/eurooffice/news/mac-patcher-released
The only problem encountered thus far occurs when the Zotero extension is disabled or removed. A long series of error dialogs will appear, but once you have clicked through them, everything seems to proceed as normal.
This patch was not created by Zotero developers and has not been released as part of OpenOffice, so you will need to try it at your own risk. It is, however, a trivial patch and does seem to work as advertised.
Troubleshooting
- If the plugin is installed but throwing a communication error when attempting to insert a citation into a new document, open the Extension Manager, expand Zotero.oxt under My Extensions, and make sure that ZoteroRPC.py is enabled. If ZoteroRPC.py is disabled, select Zotero.oxt and click Enable. If this throws an error, try restarting OpenOffice/NeoOffice.
- Linux users may need to install the openoffice.org-pyuno (or equivalent) package if their distribution doesn't install it by default.
- If the PYTHONPATH environment variable is set by another application, you may need to remove it.
- If you can insert citations into new documents but not existing documents, see the word processor plugin troubleshooting page.
- Search the forums. There are many threads on installation problems and communication errors.