Can't generate .bbl file in TeXstudio

Question

I'm using TeXstudio on OSX and try as I might I can't get a bibliography to compile.

The main doc of my MWE is main1.tex

\documentclass[]{article}
\begin{document}
  This is a reference to reference \cite{citation123}.
  \bibliographystyle{plain}
  \bibliography{testbib}
\end{document}

My .bib file is testbib.bib

@book{citation123, 
author = "E. Jones", 
title  = "A Book Title", 
year   = "2015" }

When I run Tools>Bibliography, I get this error

Error: One command expansion invalid.
  Parent Command: bibliography
  Primary Command: bibliography

And then when I run pdflatex it gives the warning No file main1.bbl.

I walked through the steps described in the solution given for TeXstudio described here: Biblatex with Biber: Configuring my editor to avoid undefined citations but I always get the errors above. I've tried switching the default bibliography tool to bibtex, bibtex8, and biber; all give the same error. How do I make TeXstudio generate the .bbl file?

Answer 1

Maybe you should run

latex main1.tex
bibtex main1
latex main1.tex
latex main1.tex

in a command window (terminal window). On my box, the example you have provided compiles like a charm. At least, you'll find out if the problem you see lies with the LaTeX installation or TeXstudio.

If the example works via command/terminal window, then you could change the Build & View process of TexStudio: Options -> Configure TexStudio, select the Build Tab and paste the line below at the Build & View textbox:

txs:///pdflatex | txs:///bibtex | txs:///pdflatex | txs:///pdflatex