LibGuides: Zotero: Adding Records to Zotero

Adding Records via Bookmarklet

Once you have downloaded the Zotero browser plugin on the browser of your choice, you can begin to add content to your Zotero library.

Step One: locate the icon that appears in the address bar of your chosen browser

**For examples of what the icon might look like, and their uses see the table below

Icon	Table	Description
	Folder	Download multiple records simultaneously (e.g. search results from a database)
	Record	Download a single records (e.g. metadata of an individual article)
	Book	Download the bibliographic description of a book (e.g. when searching the library catalog)
	Webpage	Download the URL and title of a webpage. You may need to manually add author information to Zotero.

Before using the bookmarklet with JSTOR, you need to accept JSTOR's Terms and Conditions. Click on the 'Download PDF' button and accept the terms before using the bookmarklet. Otherwise, bibliographic metadata will be added to Zotero, but the PDF will not be included.

APA style requires the use of sentence case for titles while Chicago requires title case. Zotero can automatically convert to title case, but not the other way around. Therefore, if you use APA or multiple styles, it is best to save your titles in sentence case.

Adding Records via Identifier

The magic wand tool allows you to add content by unique identifiers.

Zotero Add Records By Identifier — Select thumbnail to see a full size screenshot

Step One: Click on the wand to open the dialog box.

Step Two: Enter a unique identifier such as:

ISBN for books (e.g. 9780385521680 or 0385521685)
DOI (Digital Object Identifier) for journal articles (e.g. 10.1002/jwmg.599)
PMID (PubMed Identifier) for articles in PubMed (e.g. 24038193)

*** There are two ways to add multiple items at once.

You can enter multiple identifiers on a single line, separated by a comma or comma-space
Alternatively, you can paste a list of identifiers into the field (one per line)

It is not possible, to add a mixed lists of identifiers, i.e. you cannot add a list containing some ISBNs and some DOIs.

If you use the browser plugin or Identifier to import references into your Zotero library, you might have trouble adding certain information to the reference. Try changing the Item Type (often from Web Page or Book) to a more specific entry.

For example, when you add an edited volume by ISBN, it adds the whole book rather than any of its constituent parts. In the record you can change its "Item Type" to "Book Section" and it will shift the metadata around. You will then need to manually add the author/title/pages of the individual essay.

Manually Creating Records

You can also manually add records to Zotero.

Step One: Click on the green circle with the white “+” symbol and select format.

If you don’t see the format you want, select “More” to see additional formats.

Click thumbnail to see a full sized screenshot

Importing PDFs

Drag a PDF into the main content area to add it to Zotero.

Add embedded metadata to Zotero by right-clicking on the file and selecting "Retrieve Metadata of PDFs."
If there is no embedded metadata in the PDF, you can manually enter information about the file.

Video: Capturing Digital Assets

Backing Up Your Library

Syncing is not a substitute for backing up! What if you accidentally delete a bunch of references? You'll lose them for good the next time your Zotero library syncs. Here's how to make a backup of your Zotero library:

In Zotero, go to the File menu > Export Library
In the Format drop-down box, select Zotero RDF
If you're using notes and/or files, check the boxes for "Export Notes" and "Export Files"
Click OK
Save the file to a location like your Desktop
Then make sure to copy that file to a secondary location like AFS, Google Drive, an external hard drive, etc. Please contact CUS if you need help figuring out a good backup strategy that works for you.