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+ | ======Adding Items to Zotero====== | ||
+ | This page describes the various ways to add items (e.g., books, journal articles, web pages, etc.) as items in Zotero. To learn more about adding files (such as PDFs or images), please see the [[attaching files|files]] page. | ||
+ | |||
+ | =====Via your web browser===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | **To use Zotero properly, you need to [[/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Zotero Connector' | ||
+ | |||
+ | For example, if you're on the main page for a journal article, the save button will change to the icon of a journal article (circled in red): | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{: | ||
+ | |||
+ | On a library catalog entry for a book, the save button will show a book icon: | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Clicking the save button will create an item in Zotero with the information it has identified. | ||
+ | |||
+ | On many sites, Zotero will also save any PDF accessible from the page or an open-access PDF that can be found for the saved item. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Generic Webpages ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Some webpages don't provide any information that Zotero can recognize. On these pages, the save button will show a gray webpage icon. If you click the save button on these pages, Zotero will import the page as a "Web Page" item with a title, URL, and access date. See [[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Firefox: | ||
+ | {{: | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Safari: | ||
+ | {{: | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== PDFs ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{: | ||
+ | |||
+ | If you are viewing a PDF file in your browser, the save button will show a PDF icon. Clicking this button will import the PDF file alone into your library and then automatically attempt to [[retrieve_pdf_metadata|retrieve information]] about it. While this will often produce good results, it is usually better to use the save button from the publication' | ||
+ | |||
+ | If you save a PDF directly and Zotero isn't able to retrieve metadata, it will leave the PDF as a standalone attachment. To add metadata, you'll need to create a parent item, either by saving a regular bibliographic item as described above and dragging the PDF on top of it or by right-clicking on the PDF, choosing Create Parent Item, and entering an identifier such as a DOI or ISBN. If all else fails, you can click Manual Entry after selecting Create Parent Item and manually enter metadata for the item. | ||
+ | ==== Multiple Results ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | On some webpages that contain information about multiple items (e.g., a list of Google Scholar search results), the save button will show a folder icon. Clicking this folder icon will open a window where you can select the items that you want to save to Zotero: | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{: | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{: | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Saving to a Specific Collection or Library==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | After you click the save button, a popup will appear indicating which Zotero collection the item is being saved to. If you want to save the item to a different collection or library, you can change the selection there, as well as enter tags to assign to the new item. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Data Quality and Choosing a Translator ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | The quality of the data Zotero imports is determined by the information supplied on the webpage. Some websites provide very high-quality data using a standard way to provide Zotero with data (via embedded metadata). Other websites provide only limited metadata (e.g., only the title of a blog post) or no metadata at all. For many sites, Zotero has website-specific " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Zotero will generally choose the best translator available for each site automatically. You can choose an alternative translator by right-clicking on the Zotero save button (or the page background in Safari) and choosing one of the supplied options. If a website isn't importing properly, please report it on the [[/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Add Item by Identifier ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | You can quickly add items to your library if you already know their ISBN, DOI, PubMed ID, arXiv ID, or ADS Bibcode. Click the Add Item by Identifier button ({{: | ||
+ | |||
+ | To look up metadata, Zotero uses Library of Congress, [[http:// | ||
+ | ===== Adding PDFs and Other Files ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | As explained above, when possible, we recommend saving items [[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | If there' | ||
+ | |||
+ | If you have a local PDF or other file on your computer — for example, if you received a file via email — you can drag it to Zotero, either onto an existing item to create a child attachment or between items to create a standalone attachment. You can also add an attachment to an existing item by clicking the paperclip button in the Zotero toolbar and selecting " | ||
+ | ==== Standalone Attachments and Parent Items ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Attachments can be either child items or standalone attachments. Standalone attachments can't have bibliographic metadata or child notes, so in most cases you'll want to convert them to child items under regular parent items. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When you add a PDF directly, Zotero will initially save it as a standalone attachment and then automatically attempt to [[retrieve_pdf_metadata|retrieve metadata for it]] and create a parent item. This should work well for most academic PDFs (though it may sometimes yield lower-quality metadata than using the Save to Zotero button on the article page). For other documents, while Zotero can sometimes extract basic information (title, author), you shouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | If Zotero isn't able to retrieve metadata for the PDF, you'll be left with just the standalone attachment. You have a few options: | ||
+ | |||
+ | * If you can find a source for metadata online, you can save a regular bibliographic item by [[# | ||
+ | * If you have a DOI, ISBN, or other identifier, you can right-click on the attachment item, choose Create Parent Item, and enter the identifier to retrieve metadata. | ||
+ | * If all else fails, you can click Manual Entry in the Create Parent Item window to enter metadata manually. | ||
+ | =====Saving Webpages===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | With Zotero, you can create an item from any webpage by clicking the save button in the browser toolbar. If the page isn't recognized by a [[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Firefox: | ||
+ | {{: | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Safari: | ||
+ | {{: | ||
+ | |||
+ | If " | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{annotation/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Double-clicking a Web Page item without a snapshot in your library will take you to the original webpage. Double-clicking a Web Page item with a snapshot will display the snapshot instead. You can also visit the original webpage by clicking the ”URL:” label to the left of the '' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | =====Importing from Other Tools===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | See [[Moving to Zotero|Importing from Other Reference Managers]]. | ||
+ | ===== Large-Scale Imports from Databases ===== | ||
+ | If you are importing a large number of items from scholarly databases (e.g., if you are conducting a systematic review), databases such as Google Scholar, ProQuest, Web of Science, and others, may lock you out if you use the Zotero save button too frequently or with too many items at once. In such cases, it is better to export the items as a batch in one of the standardized formats listed [[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Manually Adding Items ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Zotero is designed to help you avoid manual entry whenever possible. As a rule, you should save items to Zotero [[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | But if you really need to add something manually — for example, a source that isn't available anywhere online — you can do so by clicking the green "New Item" ({{: | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Note:** Since it's almost always better to visit a webpage in your browser and use the "Save to Zotero" | ||
+ | ===== Editing Items ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | When you have selected an item in the center pane, you can view and edit its bibliographic information via the Info tab of the right-hand pane. Most fields can be clicked and edited. Changes are saved automatically as they are made. Some fields have special features, which are discussed below. | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Names === | ||
+ | |||
+ | Each item can have zero or more creators, of different types, such as authors, editors, etc. To change the creator type, click the creator field label (e.g., '' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Each name field can be toggled between single and two field mode by clicking the " | ||
+ | |||
+ | To quickly enter additional creators, type Shift-Enter/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Journal Abbreviations === | ||
+ | |||
+ | Journal articles are often cited with the abbreviated journal title. Zotero stores the journal title and journal title abbreviation in separate fields (" | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Titles === | ||
+ | |||
+ | We recommend that you always store titles in your Zotero library in sentence case. See [[: | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Links === | ||
+ | |||
+ | Clicking the label of the URL (" | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Extra === | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Extra field can be used for storing custom item metadata or data that doesn' | ||
+ | '' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | =====Verify and Edit Your Records===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | ** When using Zotero — or any other reference manager — for citing, you should always check items for accuracy after saving them to your library. ** | ||
+ | |||
+ | Zotero will accurately import metadata supplied by most bibliographic databases, library catalogs, publisher sites, and webpages. It will even make adjustments to the metadata to compensate for known quirks (e.g., author names in all upper case) in what the supplier provides. | ||
+ | |||
+ | That said, sometimes the metadata that Zotero receives is incomplete or incorrect. For example, one major academic search site often provides the wrong serial name with otherwise correct metadata. Another scholarly research site's metadata can omit some of the authors' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Some metadata is provided with only author last names and one or two initials when the authors' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Publishers have different conventions for the casing of titles. No software can accurately and reliably convert title case to sentence case, so you should [[: | ||
+ | |||
+ | You should be aware of these issues and verify that the items in your library are accurate and in the correct format so that Zotero can produce well-formed citations. One of the primary benefits of using a reference manager is that, once you've corrected item data once, your citations will always be correct going forward, in any citation style, no matter how many times you cite them. |