Zotero can recognize the citation information on many web pages, library catalogs, and online databases and upload it into your collection. When Zotero recognizes that information, it places a small icon at the end of the location bar in the Firefox browser, depending on the item type (book, article, newspaper, images, etc).

If you click on the icon, Zotero automatically loads the citation information into My Library. While this is happening, you will notice a small window in the bottom right of your browser that says “Saving Item.” If the format from that particular catalog is not supported by Zotero, a small window will appear saying “Cannot Save.” You can enter the bibliographic information manually or find another library catalog that is supported by Zotero.

Find an item in your Firefox browser (a book on your library catalog, an article from JSTOR or Proquest, an online newspaper article, or a particular website). A Zotero icon will appear in the location bar at the top of your Firefox window. Click on the icon, and the bibliographic information will appear on the right side of your Zotero pane. You can then add notes, attachments, and tags.

A library catalog website listing multiple items will display a folder icon. Click on the folder, and you will be prompted to check multiple items to upload into your collection. You can then edit the citations or add notes, attachments, and tags for each item separately.

When you add an article from an online database (such as JSTOR) to your Zotero collection by clicking on the article icon in the location window at the top of your browser, the citation information appears automatically in the right Zotero pane. Click on the Attachment tab and you will see the electronic attachments. You can click on one to pull up the article.

You can add a link to a web page or a snapshot of a web page to your Zotero collection. To add a link to a web page, pull up the page in your browser. Click on the link icon (Save Link to Current Page). The URL and date of access will appear in the right pane. Click on View Page to pull the page back up into your browser.

To add a snapshot of the current page, pull up the page in your browser. Click on the camera icon (Take Snapshot of Current Page). You can then view the snapshot by clicking on the View Snapshot icon on the right pane. You will see the URL and the date of access.

You can add items to your collection without the benefit of an online catalog or source. Click on the green plus icon in the center pane. You will be prompted to select an object type. You can view more preferences at the bottom of the menu. You can then manually enter the bibliographic information into the right pane.

You can add files from your hard drive to your Zotero collection. Manually add the bibliographic information for the item as outlined above. Click on the Attachments tab on the right pane. Click Add, and you will be prompted to either link to the file (so it will not be saved in your Zotero file), or you can store a copy of the file in Zotero.

You can link a file on your hard drive to your Zotero collection. Click on the green plus icon, then select Link to File. You will be prompted to browse and select a file from your hard drive. The file will be listed in My Library, and you can access it in the right pane by clicking on View File. The file will show in your browser window. Clicking on Show File will show the location of the file on your hard drive.

Many users come to Zotero with extensive collections stored in other reference management software. The following information describes how to make the move from EndNote to Zotero, but the same basic steps apply to most other reference management systems.

In EndNote, select “Output Styles” from the Edit menu. From the list of output styles select BibTeX. Once BibTeX is set as the format, select “Export” from the File menu. In the Export window that pops up, choose “Text Only” and hit “Save.” After exporting from EndNote, click on the gear icon above the left column in your Zotero pane and select “Import” from the pull-down menu. In the file system window that pops up, locate the BibTeX file you exported from EndNote and select “Open.” This should import your references into Zotero.

If you have any issues related to importing and exporting references, try searching the forums. You may well find quick tips to help you solve your problem. If your search doesn't turn up the answer you were looking for, post your question to the forums. This is the quickest way to get information from the Zotero team.

On the right pane of your Zotero screen, you can view and edit information about an individual item. Highlight the item in your center pane. Click on the Info tab. You can edit the text boxes by clicking on them. You can also edit the Object ID boxes by clicking on them and selecting a different option. You can add or delete an author/contributor/editor by clicking on the plus (+) or minus (-) icons. In this pane you can also add notes, attachments, tags, and related item links to your items.