Error 6 in Word - issue inserting mendeley citations (potentially related to wizdom.ai)

Kaitlyn Mellor 21 Reputation points
2021-01-19T23:37:24.92+00:00

I previously used the Mendeley desktop app and Word Plugin for all of my research/referencing needs without issues however, I have recently been completely unable to insert citations in word documents. I just purchased a new MacBook Air however, this issue still exists. The error message "Mendeley Word Plugin Problem: Bad file name or number ( 52) in MendeleyPlugin" frequently pops up now however, there are no useful solutions to my issue on the Mendeley support page. I have attempted restarting, re-installing Mendeley, etc. and have not been able to fix this issue.

I previously installed the wizdom.ai Microsoft Word plugin by Colwiz on my MacBook and the issues seem to have started around that time and I suspect this app may be the cause of the issue (but I am in medicine and definitely not an IT person). Wizdom.ai was useless and I subsequently tried to delete it but have never been successful in fully deleting it (ie. under "Tools" --> "Templates and Add-Ins" it is listed as "wisdom.ai.dotm" under "Global Templates and Add-Ins" despite uninstalling, deleting, and removing anything related from my computer. I am able to uncheck the box for it (ie. under this menu it says "checked items are currently loaded") however, it is automatically loaded (and checked again) whenever I open Word). The wizdom.ai Toolbar is always present under "Add-Ins" (and when I re-install Mendeley, the Mendeley toolbar appears below the wizdom.ai Toolbar). Further, if I click on "insert citation" from the Wizdom.ai toolbar an error message pops up with the title bar "Visual Basic for Applications" and says "Run-time error '6': Overflow" (this pop up has a different, much older appearing user interface than the rest of my computer/Word popups) and the only options are to click "help" or "end". If I click "help" it takes me to this generic page: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/client-developer/office-client-development?redirectedfrom=MSDN
and if I click "End" nothing appears to happen. There is a greyed out option for "debug" which in the past I've occasionally been able to click but it opens what seems to be a weird program (again with the older user interface) with what seems to be programming language. When I google the error code 6, I get this page: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/language/reference/user-interface-help/overflow-error-6 but I am unable to solve the issue (or really understand what the issue is) from this.

I'm incredibly frustrated and have been unable to do my research without a citation manager. I have no clue how to fix this bug and would be very grateful for any assistance or pointers here.

Thank you!

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4 answers

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  1. Ben 5 Reputation points
    2023-09-27T08:20:48.86+00:00

    I have had the same problem. For me, it was something to do with references within footnotes of Word. If I deleted all references inserted within footnotes then this issue dissappeared. Inserting referecnes back within footnotes and mendeley cite crashed again.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
  2. Erin Ding-MSFT 4,456 Reputation points
    2021-01-20T08:52:28.503+00:00

    @Kaitlyn Mellor

    Please update your Office to the latest version to check this issue.

    > I have attempted restarting, re-installing Mendeley, etc.

    << How did you uninstall?
    Please follow the steps in “How can I fully remove Mendeley Desktop from my machine?” and “How do I fully uninstall the Word Plugin?” to uninstall them completely.

    Then make sure the operating system meets the system requirement before installing the Mendeley desktop app and Word Plugin.

    More information, you could refer to “Mendeley Support Center”.

    Besides, I think your issue is more related to the third-party plugin, it is recommended to post on the Mendeley Forum to get more related help.

    Note: Microsoft is providing the information as a convenience to you. The sites are not controlled by Microsoft. Microsoft cannot make any representations regarding the quality, safety, or suitability of any software or information found there. Please make sure that you completely understand the risk before retrieving any suggestions from the above link.

    If an Answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
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  3. Adi Surya Suwardi Ansyah 0 Reputation points
    2023-08-19T07:22:39.51+00:00

    downgrade to word 16.75 (23070901). you can download from this link https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac

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  4. Maliha Ashraf 0 Reputation points
    2023-10-10T05:44:00.4133333+00:00

    Just install Mendeley plugin again, it will start working

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