When all else fails, remember that a Zotero citation is just a pointer. If the pointer is irreparably broken, you can still manually re-insert the citation. It's tedious, but it's faster than rewriting your bibliography from scratch.
Open your Word document. Click the Zotero tab in the ribbon. how to relink citations in zotero
Ensure your laptop’s Zotero library is fully synced with your desktop library. Go to Edit → Preferences → Sync and click "Sync." When all else fails, remember that a Zotero
For the remaining 10%—especially those with corrupted field codes or deleted items—the solution is discipline: maintain version control of your document, never delete sources mid-project, and always keep a "live" backup copy before unlinking. Open your Word document
When you click "Refresh," Zotero reads these coordinates, looks up the current metadata in your database, and builds the formatted citation.