Zotero - Reference Management Software: Installation, Setup and Usage
Zotero is a free and open-source reference management software. Reference management software help researchers and students to save, organize and cite research articles more easily. Mendeley (free but not open-source) and EndNote (paid and not open-source) are other examples of this kind of software.
I decided to use Zotero over the other alternatives because it is free and permits the edition of PDF files with an external PDF Editor (I use FoxitReader to highlight and make annotations) and the PDF Files can be stored in Google Drive (so fewer restrictions on the limit of papers to store). Mendeley permits annotations in their embedded editor, but the annotations are not saved in the source PDF file, so they can only be visualized inside the program. However, Mendeley is easier to set up and use, so please take this into account when deciding which one to use. EndNote seems to be a good alternative too, but I have never tried it yet, so I cannot comment on it.
Next, I cite some resources that I found helpful to install, set up, and use Zotero. I especially recommend referring to [1]. Zotero takes some time to set up, but once it is done it is very easy to use.
Installation and Setup
The following instructions are a summary of the steps in [1] to install and set up Zotero, so all the credit goes to him. These steps work for installing on Mac and Windows; please refer to [2] for additional details for installation on Ubuntu.
- Create a Folder in the root folder of Google Drive called Zotero
- Download Zotero from https://www.zotero.org/download/
- Install Zotero (choose “Standard” and leave the default installation directory unchanged)
- Download Zotfile from http://zotfile.com/
- Install Zotfile.
- Launch Zotero
- Go to Tools-> Add-ons -> “Gear Icon” -> Install Add-on from file
- Select the downloaded file from step 3 and click install now and then click restart Zotero when asked
- Setup Zotero
- Go to Edit -> Preferences -> Sync and log in with your Zotero account (or create one)
- In the same Preferences menu go to Advanced -> Files and Folders and setup Base Directory to the folder named “Zotero” in Google Drive
- Go to Tools -> Zotfile Preferences and set Source Folder for Attaching new files to your Downloads directory
- In the same Zotfile Preferences menu set the Location of Files-> Custom directory to the folder named “Zotero” in Google Drive
- In the Zotero main windows click on the sync icon (green circular arrow at the top right) to Sync with your account
Usage
Refer to [3] and [4] for usage.