Zotero - Citation Management Software

Collections

Everything you add to the Zotero library appears in "My Library."

You can add Folders to organize your projects in two different ways, depending on whether you are using the Zotero client or the web library in Zotero.

To add a folder using your desktop Zotero client:

1. Click the folder+ icon above where it says My Library, on the left
2. Select where you want the folder to live (e.g., as a folder in your My Library collection, or as a subfolder of an existing folder

To add a folder using your Zotero web collection:

1. Click the + next to where it says "My Library"
2. Locate the new folder in the list and add its name. You can also move it later

More:

You can also add sub-collections to folders.

If you have a collection selected when you import items into your library, the items will appear in both "My Library" and in the collection you selected. You can also move items into collections after they are imported.

Library Organization

In addition to storing bibliographic information, Zotero can save links to full text, attachments, tags for organizing your content, snapshots of pages, notes about the items, and stand-alone notes.

Tags

Tags from databases are added automatically when you import articles. Not every article will come with tags. You can also add new tags, edit existing ones, delete tags, etc. All tags are shown in the bottom of the left column of your Zotero home, and the tags for each item are also shown in the item details when the item is selected. If you don't want to import tags with items, go to Edit > Preferences > General and uncheck "Automatically tag items with keywords and subject headings."

Note: the image above is of the web library. To see tags in the desktop client, click the tag icon on the far right after you click to open an article.

Notes

To create a note attached to an item, select the item from the list in the center.

• To add a note using the web client, click "Notes" at the top of the righthand column and select "Add Note."
• To add a note using the desktop client, click on the title of an item and then click the "Notes" icon on the far right.
• You can also click on the "Notes" icon at the top of your Library.

Sometimes Zotero will automatically import information from a resource, such as a table of contents or abstract, into the notes.

Standalone Notes are not attached to a particular item. To create a standalone note, click "New Note" and select "New Standalone Note."

Attachments

You can set your Zotero preferences to import pdfs (if available).

Go to Preferences > File Handling and check where it says "Automatically attach associated PDFs and other files when saving items." You can also retrieve metadata and take snapshots, or rename attachments.