Zotero

Downloading Zotero App + Extension

First, you're going to need to download Zotero from www.zotero.org. You should first download the desktop application and then add the browser extension to your preferred browser(s).

If you are planning to use Zotero with a word processor such as Microsoft Word, the necessary plugins should be automatically installed when you install the Zotero desktop application. If you are using Google Docs as your word processor, the browser plugin will add Zotero functionality to your Google Docs.

Setting Your Preferences

After you install the Zotero desktop app and the Zotero Connector, you will need to set up your preferences to allow for syncing and cloud storage of your citations. The first step is to register for a free Zotero account. You can do this on the Zotero website.

Once you have created an account, you can return to the desktop application and sign in. To do this, select Preferences under the toolbar tab Edit (on a Mac, select Preferences under the Zotero tab on the menu bar). 

Next click on the Sync tab of the Preferences window. Enter in your username and password to your account and select both the Sync Automatically option and Sync Full-Text Content option.

If you would like to be able to access the attached files remotely, then select the Sync attachment files in My Library using Zotero. Currently, Zotero gives all users 300MB of storage for free. Additional storage can be purchased on their website; however, other citation management systems such as EndNote offer more functionality if you are going to pay for the service. Most PDFs range in size from 100KB to 1MB, so Zotero's free storage can hold between 300 and 1,200 PDFs, depending on the size of the PDFs

To access the stand-alone client (the desktop app) on your computer, open it from the programs menu. If you have not yet added the Zotero connector for your browser, you can do so from the Download Webpage. 

The above image displays the layout of the Zotero pane. From left to the right the buttons are for:

• Create a new collection: The first button to the left creates a new collection. This is useful if you are working on multiple assignments or projects and want to keep the citations for each project separate
• Create a new library:  This button is similar to creating a new collection except you are creating an entirely new grouping of citations where you can add an different collections separate from your other library.
• Create a new item: This button allows you to add a citation to your library manually. It will ask you to choose a format (book, article, video, etc.) and will automatically format the data you enter.
• Add an item by identifier: This button will allow you to add items to your library if you have an identifier for the item, like a DOI, PubMed ID, or ISBN.
• New note: This button will allow you to add notes to a citation in your library or create a standalone note.
• Add attachment: This button allows you to add an attachment to a citation. Use this button if you want to add a PDF or file copy of a citation in your library. Remember that Zotero only offers 300 MB of free storage, which roughly translates to 300-1,200 PDFs, depending on the size of your PDF.
• Advanced Search: This button will allow you to search through your library using advanced features. The basic search bar is beside the advanced search button.
• Simple Search: This is useful for doing a quick search of your library for tags, titles, years, and other info.
• View PDF or full text online: This button will allow you to try to locate a copy of the citation using a number of options. The options include local PDF stored with the citation, link in the citation that leads to the full text, CrossRef Lookup (which is used for DOIs), Google Scholar, and VSU's databases (this feature requires you to edit the preferences, see the Advanced section for a walk-through on this).
• Sync: This button will sync your library with Zotero's servers. Much like when working on a document in Word, be sure to save your work often!