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Bibliography gives "there are no sources in the current document"

Anonymous
2022-02-17T17:23:14+00:00

I'm using the built-in Word citation and bibliography tool. I have several sources in the "current list" with checkmark icons next to them, and the in text citations display as I expect. The bibliography, however, displays "There are no sources in the current document" for several different styles, but not all. **** I have been attempting to customize bibliography style files in Word. While I may have broken some of the files despite trying to be careful about renaming customizations so as not to change the defaults, some of the styles I have not changed also display the error message in the bibliography.

As a first step, is there an easy way to restore the default style files? What are some other troubleshooting steps I can take?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | Other | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-02-18T02:31:52+00:00

    Hello,

    Welcome to Microsoft Community and appreciate your time taken for sharing detailed information. I understand that Bibliography gives "there are no sources in the current document". I could share with you some of my thoughts on this issue.

    Did you do something that caused you to need to restore the default format file? IF you've edited a series of sources before, but you still get this error: "there are no sources in the current document". First I think you could check to see if you have copied your source to the document you want to cite. Here are the steps:

    Click Reference > Manage Source > Copy the contents in the master list into the current list. (You should have done that already)

    If all else fails, you could try to reset Word. That should bring Word back to the way it was. I want you to go into safe mode and try it out, but your problem doesn't seem to have much to do with add-ins, etc. And you want to restore the default style files, so resetting Word would be the direct way.

    1. Hold down the Windows key + R key, enter regedit, press Enter;
    2. Rename the word folder by locating the following key values in turn (right-click on it, select Rename, rename word to wordold) HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\word

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\word

    1. Click Start and enter in the search program and file: %AppData%\Microsoft\Templates

    And then press Enter.

    1. Back up and delete files with the .dotm suffix, such as Normal.dotm;
    2. After you've done the above, review the issue.

    (Disclaimer: Generally, modifying registry subkeys or work group is intended for advanced users, administrators, and IT Professionals. It can help fix some problems, however, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For further protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click here to view the article.)

    Feel free to post back if you need any further assistance. ^.^

    Best Regard,

    Kevin | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

    *Beware of scammers posting fake support numbers here."

    *Kindly Mark and Vote this reply if it helps, as it will be beneficial to more community members reading here.

    *If your problem is not solved, you could reply to the post again and we would continue to provide technical support for you.

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