Zotero

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What is it?

Zotero (www.zotero.org) is a free, open source Firefox extension that allows you to store citation information, web page snapshots, and object files on your computer or on the Zotero server. Zotero "senses" citation information on a page and allows you to automatically gather that information. It allows note taking, organizing in folders, and generating formatted citations. You can tag and search your records. It can be integrated with Word and OpenOffice.org for in-text citing.

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Help from Zotero

Setting OpenURL (full text), Proxy, and RIS Preferences

We recommend the following Preference settings (Zotero v. 2.0.2 - other versions may vary):

Open URL (full text)

  1. Click gear icon.
  2. Click Preferences.
  3. Click Advanced.
  4. Under OpenURL, select Custom.
  5. In Resolver, type http://sfx.wisconsin.edu/wisc
  6. Click OK.

Proxied Resources

  1. Click gear icon.
  2. Click Preferences.
  3. Click Proxies.
  4. Uncheck Automatically remember proxied resources
  5. (Optional) In Configured Proxies, click each proxy link, then click - to remove proxies.
  6. Click OK.

RIS/Refer Files

Article databases with a direct export feature may use the RIS format for the file transfer. If you also use EndNote or RefWorks, deselect the automatic export to Zotero to allow you to choose the destination citation manager.

  1. Click gear icon.
  2. Click General.
  3. Under Miscellaneous, uncheck Use Zotero for downloaded RIS/Refer files.
  4. Click OK.

Transferring Records

Transferring Records Between Reference Managers

You can transfer references from one citation manager to another (such as Endnote, Refworks, BibTeX).

To transfer records from Zotero to Endnote or RefWorks:

  1. In Zotero, click gear icon.
  2. Click Export Library.
  3. In the Format: drop-down menu, select the appropriate export format.
  4. Save the text file.
  5. In EndNote or RefWorks, choose the appropriate import filter and import the formatted text file.

    Zotero Export Format EndNote Import Filter RefWorks Import Filter
    Refer/BibIX Refer/BibIX Refer
    RIS RefMan (RIS) RIS Format

To transfer records from EndNote or RefWorks to Zotero:

  1. In EndNote or Refworks, select the RIS output format or filter.
  2. Use the export function to create a properly formatted text file.
  3. Save the file.
  4. In Zotero, click gear icon.
  5. Click Import.
  6. Select the file.
  7. Click Open.
    References are automatically imported into your Zotero library.

    Zotero Import Filter Endnote Export Filter RefWorks Export Filter
    RIS RefMan (RIS) RIS Format

Note: When you transfer records from one citation manager to another, links to the original library items from existing word processor documents will be lost in the new citation manager.

Transferring Zotero Libraries to Other Computers

See transferring a library.

Do not use Zotero's Import/Export to transfer Zotero libraries from one computer to another. None of the available export functions transfers all Zotero library data.

Word Processor Plug-ins

Zotero allows you to insert footnotes or in-text citations into your documents.  The software will then automatically generate a complete bibliography of the sources you chose to cite.  To connect your preferred word processing program (Microsoft Word, Open Office, etc.) to your Zotero library, you must first download a plug-in from the Zotero site.

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