Frequently Asked Questions
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CWYW 8: I'm getting a dialog box that says "Reference Manager Select Matching Reference". What does this mean and how do I resolve this?

Answer: The "Select Matching Reference" window comes up when text between the temporary citation delimiters (usually the {} or [] characters) which does not match up with the author, year and reference number in the currently opened database. Reasons this can happen include:

  • When formatting a document that was formatted using an earlier version of Reference Manager, this can come up if the database that was used for that document initially is not open.

  • If Reference Manager is set to look for the RefID number instead of the author, year and RefID number and the document is in author, year and RefID format this message will come up, or vice-versa.

    This setting can be found in Word 2007 with Reference Manager 12 by going to the "Reference Manager 12" tab on the ribbon and selecting "Preferences" and the "Temporary Citations" tab.

    Earlier versions of Reference Manager and Word: Word by going to "Tools > Reference Manager > Cite While You Write Preferences" and then to the "Temporary Citations" tab.

    Here make the temporary citations in the document look like the sample shown on this window. If it does not, adjust the settings so that it does, then run generate bibliography again.

  • If the author’s name, the year, or the reference number has been corrected or changed in the database, after it was already inserted into the paper this message will appear.

To resolve this, look at what Reference Manager is searching for in the text box between the "Find:" label and the "Search" button. Then do the following:
  • If it is an author, year and a number, like "Smith, 2004 23 /id", then this is something that Reference Manager cannot locate in the currently opened databases. Make sure that the database used to insert this reference is open.

  • Check the reference in the Reference Manager database. Does the record number exist, or is it a different number? Is the name spelled identically? Does the year match? If the author or year for this particular reference has been changed in the database, use the Find box in the Select Matching Reference window to enter the correct information, and then click on the "Search". Any matches will appear below, under the Author, Year and Title columns. If the correct citation is found, highlight it and click the "Insert" button.

  • If the text in the box is not an author, year and reference number (or just a number if your Temporary Citation settings use just the RefID), then this may simply be text that was entered between the temporary citation delimiter characters and is unrelated to Reference Manager. In this case, click on the "Ignore" button.

NOTE: While going through the process matching correct references using this dialog, do not click on the "Cancel" button. Clicking "Cancel" will cancel any changes, and any references inserted in this select matching reference session will be lost. To stop for now, click the "Ignore All" button, which will skip past all the rest of the unmatched citations and format the ones that have been inserted. Skipped citations will remain in their unformatted form.

For further assistance please contact technical support.

This page was last modified on: January 9, 2008

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