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• Anonymous commented  ·  May 11, 2012 04:23  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  Hola !
  este error (en mi caso) creo fue motivado por copiar y pegar entre documentos con citaciones en diferentes formatos o con números coincidentes. Tengo la precaución ahora de copiar ´texto sin formato´ entre documentos y no volvió a suceder. Espero tengan suerte !

• John commented  ·  March 25, 2012 02:00  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  I had Word 2003 until recently and it was good, user friendly, rational. I changed computer and installed Word 2010. It is VERY BAD. It is NOT user friendly, commands are illogically distributed, it is obscure... I have decided to try another software, although for over 20 years I have been using Word... Pity...

• Luís Fernando commented  ·  January 22, 2012 13:40  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  I get the very same error, I think this should be raised to High Urgency, since I'm getting this for almost an year now. I have to downgrade to Mendeley 1.0.0 to have it working on my system.

  Linux Mint Debian Edition - tracking testing
  Mendeley 1.3.1
  LibreOffice 3.4.4

• Libby Hemphill commented  ·  December 15, 2011 10:23  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  I'm getting the same error in Word for Mac 2011 (14.1.3) and Mendeley 1.3.

  "Citation formatting failed.
  Problem updating citation:
  You can fix this citation by removing and re-inserting it.

  If the problem persists, etc."

  Anybody hear back about the problem from support? My grant proposal is due today, so I don't have time to wait for them.

  UPDATE: When I toggled all field codes in Word, I noticed that for a citation within a table, the field code ended with "}T}" instead of "}}". When I removed the T, I was able to insert another citation. Then, after that one, the field codes for the citation within the table had an extra "}" at the end and threw the error again. I removed it and was able to insert one more citation. So, it looks like at least for me, the error is caused by updating field codes within a table. If I completely remove the field within the table, Mendeley plug in works like normal.

• Nick commented  ·  November 16, 2011 16:46  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  I am still experiencing this problem too. I am using LMDE (debian based). I've tried the 1.1.1 and 1.1.3 releases. Both have the error for the APA 6th edition and IEEE formating. Other formats seem to work fine.

• mwa commented  ·  October 26, 2011 06:39  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  Just FYI, deinstalling and installing the newest Mendeley Version solved the problem, a simple "hard reset" :)

• mwa commented  ·  October 26, 2011 06:32  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  Today I updated to Version 1.1.2. After updating I keep getting an error on inserting an citation. Here is a screenshot of the error-dialogue: http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/4578/unbenannt1jwm.jpg

  "Citation formatting failed.

  JavaScript error found: CSL error: Exception: TypeError: Result of expression 'citations[(j - 1)].sortedItems[0]' [undefined] is not an object., 416, file:///Applications/Mendeley Desktop.app/Contents/Resources/citeproc-js/citeproc.js"

  I tried several different standard citation styles, still the same error. Furthermore I tried reinstalling the Word-Plugin, same error.

  Using Win7, 64bit, Word 2010.

  What else can I try to get rid of this error-message?

• pauladeg commented  ·  October 24, 2011 21:35  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  I cannot even change the citation style. Same message show up

• Schuyler commented  ·  October 18, 2011 10:43  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  Hello all, this problem is (in my case) the result of a corrupted field code. Field codes should end in .json"}} in order for the mendeley scripting to work. In my case, one of the fields became corrupted (possibly in the process of cutting and pasting text).

  The corrupted field code will also likely make the offending citation "invisible". To correct, you will need to toggle field codes. To do so in Word 2011:

  Highlight your entire document (Command-A).
  Right click anywhere on the document and select "toggle field codes".

  This will then expand the citation fields so that you can see the scripting. You have to manually search for badly-formatted fields. Again, mine had extra text at the end of the field so that it did not end in .json"}}

  Your mileage may vary, but I'd like to put in a plug for a massive raise for Charlotte in support!!! Thanks!

• Schuyler commented  ·  October 17, 2011 11:57  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  @robert.knight - I have submitted an email to support with the document and a screenshot attached.

  Part of the frustration of this is that there is a lack of meaningful information in the error message. It is as follows:

  "Citation formatting failed.
  Problem updating citation:
  You can fix this citation by removing and re-inserting it.

  If the problem persists, etc."

  The field for the citation being inserted is then left at the (Inserting) stage. The error then seems to be in the scripting that is doing the inserting. Once it has happened, none of the scripts will work, and your document is toast. The only solution is to go back to an earlier save. Unfortunately, this is not an option at the current stage of my project anymore, as the error is happening with the final daily save.

• ebioman commented  ·  October 17, 2011 06:55  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  Hi
  I got the same problem today as well. I am currently working with Debian 64bit system and LibreOffice. It did work well for 2 weeks not problem, but today:

  JavaScript error found, 416 and the same message.
  I tried to change the style and indeed one or two of the old ones seem to work. But on the other hand switching back did still force me in the error mode. I tried as well a personal edited style - same history.....

  You might not consider it that bad if another style works, but I wanted to submit soon and just using another style is not an option

• Piotrek commented  ·  October 16, 2011 08:53  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  Hi,

  I have the same problem. Today I updated Mendeley to 1.1.2 and I can't enter any citations in my text. This is ridiculous as the only reason I updated Mendeley was because I had to wait 20 minutes for each citations and now I can't do anything. I tried every option post here and nothing. How can I downgrade Mendeley, so that I will be able to use it again. After I finish my thesis I want touch this software again and make sure that nobody who I know makes the same mistake as I. Unfortunately now it is too late as I have around 150 citation and app. 50 more to go.

  The error says:

  "Citation formatting failed.

  Problem updating citation:

  You can fix this citation by removing and re-inserting it.

  If problem persists, please get in touch with..."

  I use Word 2011 for Mac.

  Please help I am desperate,

  Piotrek

• Piotrek commented  ·  October 16, 2011 08:51  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  Hi,

  I have the same problem. Today I updated Mendeley to 1.1.2 and I can't enter any citations in my text. This is ridiculous as the only reason I updated Mendeley was because I had to wait 20 minutes for each citations and now I can't do anything. I tried every option post here and nothing. How can I downgrade Mendeley, so that I will be able to use it again. After I finish my thesis I want touch this software again and make sure that nobody who I know makes the same mistake as I. Unfortunately now it is too late as I have around 150 citation and app. 50 more to go.

  The error says:

  "Citation formatting failed.

  Problem updating citation:

  You can fix this citation by removing and re-inserting it.

  If problem persists, please get in touch with..."

  I use Word 2011 for Mac.

  Please help I am desperate,

  Piotrek

• Adminrobert.knight (Admin, Mendeley) commented  ·  October 14, 2011 02:18  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  Hello Schuyler,

  If you haven't already done so, please can you contact support@mendeley.com - if you can attach a copy of the document so that we can try to reproduce the problem that would be helpful.

  Additionally, does any other information besides "Citation formatting failed" appear in the error message?

• Schuyler commented  ·  October 13, 2011 12:06  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  Inserting citations is the baseline function of this software. So long as this incredibly frustrating bug exists, the software is useless. I wish I had known about opacity of Mendeley support before I was 40 pages into my thesis. I should have trusted the early reveiws, but I thought that surely the basic functioning of the program would have been resolved by now. Apparently not.

  I was able to work around the problem originally by going back to a previous save of my Word document. However, now it has happened again, and I do not have that luxury. Once it does occur, no citations can be inserted. Changing citation styles does not fix the problem.

  Word 2011
  Mendeley 1.1.2
  APA 6th edition style
  3 weeks to table date

• Alessio Nencini commented  ·  September 17, 2011 00:49  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  I have the same problem on Ubuntu. Changing citation style solves the problem but if I change it back to my custom style the error message appears again... any idea? How can I solve this issue?
  I also tried to uninstall the custom style and then reinstall it again with a different name but it did not work...

• Jenny Bosten commented  ·  September 07, 2011 14:07  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  I have the same problem. The error is
  Citation formatting failed
  JavaScript error found:

  CSL error: Exception: TypeError: Result of expression 'citations[(j - 1)].sortedItems[0]' [undefined] is not an object., 416, file:///Applications/Mendeley Desktop.app/Contents/Resources/citeproc-js/citeproc.js

  I am using mac osx version 10.6.8 and Mendeley desktop version 1.0.1 and Microsoft Word 2008 for mac. I am paying for Mendeley, but it is pretty useless for me now. Attempting to change the citation style or refresh results in the same error. Restarting Mendeley, Word or the computer has no effect.

• Adminrobert.knight (Admin, Mendeley) commented  ·  September 02, 2011 03:53  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  Hello C.D. Roelofs,

  Can you post a screenshot of the message you see? If there is no other information in the dialog besides 'Citation formatting failed' I would try the following:

  1. Save a copy of the current document
  2. Try changing the citation style to a different style and then changing it back.

  Can you also confirm which citation style you are using?

• C.D. Roelofs commented  ·  September 01, 2011 08:49  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  Hi have the same problem. Using Word 2008 for Mac and mendely version 1.0.1 for mac.
  I never had this problem untill today. The only significant change I can think of is that I started using footnotes. Is there a solution yet? My deadline for my thesis is tomorrow :(

• Heidi commented  ·  August 23, 2011 06:58  ·  Flag as inappropriate  ·  Delete

  Hi Robert,

  I changed the citation style from APA (which I have to use) to sociology and there was no error anymore. Then I switched back to APA and it worked. So for now it seems okay, but I guess the problem is in another of my documents. When I open another document it gives the error suddenly for all my documents even if the one I have opened first did not give the error. Well, hopefully it will stay working now for a while