Webscraping references
The Zotero Connector enables your web browser to save citations to your Zotero library. Zotero must be open to harvest information.
Within the address bar of your browser a Zotero icon will appear (or to the right of it if in Firefox).
The appearance of the Zotero Connector changes depending on what information Zotero can detect on the page. When no details are detected, it will display the red 'Z' icon. When multiple references are detected, it will show a folder icon . When Zotero detects one reference, the icon will change to reflect the type of item. For example, a book icon when details of a book are detected, a scales icon when a legal source is detected, a printed page when a journal article is detected.
To save information from a page to your Zotero library, click on the Zotero Connector. By default, it will save the item into the selected collection folder, but another collection can be chosen from the drop down menu that appears while the item is saving.
When saving from a page with multiple references, a check box will pop up to select which references you want to save.
Where available, the full text of the article will also be saved in your library attached to the record.
Note: Always check the information saved as sometimes Zotero harvests incomplete information, or can't download the PDF.
Import records from a database
To save records to Zotero from a database:
- Mark the records you want to save
- Select the Export option in the database
- Choose Endnote/RefMan/RIS/Zotero (depending on the database) as the Export option, then Export
Drag and drop files
PDF documents saved to your computer can be dragged and dropped into the centre panel of Zotero. To cite the document in Word the PDF it will need a parent record. Zotero will try to detect the publication details from any metadata in the file to create the parent record and link the file to the record. To manually create a record from a pdf you can right click the item in zotero and select 'create parent record'. Insert ISBN or add item details manually.
Note: Not every file will have the required metadata for Zotero to detect. Some files will work, others won't. Some files will give incomplete or incorrect data. Always check and edit the bibliographic information that has been added.
Add references by identifier
- Quickly add references to Zotero using their ISBN, Digital Object Identifier (DOI), or PubMed ID.
- To add a reference via one of these identifiers, click the “Add Item by Identifier” button at the top, type or paste in the identifier and select Enter
