Can't use Jabref on linux Ubuntu?

[solene-evain]

Hi everyone,

I used to use Jabref on Linux (Ubuntu) during my thesis, and I'd like to use it again. If I managed to install it, I can't find the way to have the mozilla plugin work... It tells me that jabref or powershell might not be installed, but they are. A bit of help on this?

Thanks

[LyzardKing]

Hi @solene-evain
There are different way to address this, depending on how you installed Jabref (flatpak, snap, deb, ...).

The general information can be found here: https://docs.jabref.org/collect/jabref-browser-extension

If you can give us more information on how you installed Jabref we can find the right fix.

[tillb98]

Hello @LyzardKing,

unfortunately the problem also occurs on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

How to reproduce it

I installed Jabref via $ snap install jabref and use the JabRef Browser Extension for Firefox. I granted the extension all rights.

Error

If you select a paper on Springerlink, for example, and try to extract the BibTex information using the extension, the following error appears: Error connecting to JabRef; No such native application org.jabref.jabref; If the error persists, please open an issue on GitHub.

Is this error known and is there possibly a workaround?

Kind regards

[fapdash]

@tillb98 It's in the docs: https://docs.jabref.org/collect/jabref-browser-extension#snap

First you run

snap connect jabref:hostfs-mozilla-native-messaging-jabref

Then open about:addons in Firefox, click on JabRef Browser Extension and navigate to the Preferences tab.
You should be asked for additional permissions.
Afterwards you should be able to use the extension.