Zotero Tutorial: Notes, Links, & Cross References

[@adost1120]

Sir, your videos have been great! They have saved me a lot of time and headache. Thanks for you help to the very many like me!

[@GreenDoorInternational]

Thanks so much for uploading this course. So very helpful!! Thanks a million!

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Glad they're a help!

[@scwmba7156]

This is greatly presented. Thanks!

[@TheJoshtheboss]

7:00 does not refer to URL but URI (capital i). Thanks for the awesome detailed videos. Have learned a ton...

[@3arabawy]

Thanks for this. Very useful

[@dissdad8744]

5:00 Standalone notes could be a great way of creating an outline for a chapter, if the collection is organized into separate chapters, isn't it? What't the use of separate notes for each document, if there is no interrelation between them?

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Good point, Hans. It all depends on what you're using your notes for. Some folks just have the highlights for that particular article, and so it makes sense to keep them as a child to each item. If you're assembling your notes into an outline for a larger document, standalone is a great idea. If you're interested in notes, I suggest looking at zettelkasten.de. Lots of great resources for note taking.

[@aloysedelafaye9778]

Hello, thanks for this very instructive video. My text editor only has a few options compared to yours. I would really need more options to make my notes beautiful and efficient. How can i upgrade it ? Thanks in advance.

[@ledademboscki7292]

Very clear, useful explanations. Thanks!

[@TheJoshtheboss]

7:30 Does it copy the file or Move the file? I was browsing through the Documentation and I think it copies it. You have to delete the file then manually, I think.

[@68snoopi]

It copies the files, which I prefer, cause otherwise zotero would destroy the structure of the stored files on my harddrive

[@TheNathanxmeyer]

Hi Nicholas. Thanks for this and all of your other videos. I am working through them as I set up my own workflow. A question on notes and Zotero and DevonThink. I believe you use both applications? I am going to try my best to organize my research (agnostic to a specific project) within DevonThink and then move to Scrivener when I am more project focused. I have set up the indexing of the Zotero contained PDFs in DevonThink and that works great. Sadly, I do not see an easy way to get my Zotero notes into DevonThink as well. (There is a way that I have experimented with - save the Note into the same folder that hoids the PDF - DevonThink will then index it as well. However, then you do not see the note in the Zotero browser window.) My question is whether you have changed your mind on storing notes in Zotero and if you too have moved to DevonThink? And in general, do you have any other suggestions on how to get your Zotero notes into DevonThink? Thanks very much for any thoughts!

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Thanks for the comment. I loved hearing about this workflow! I keep my PDFs and my extracted highlights in Zotero for simplicity's sake. I also use DEVONthink to index all of the PDFs in my Zotero directory (again, index not import). Using the DEVONthink AI on the PDFs helps me make connections that I would otherwise miss. For my notes, I keep everything in plain text files in DEVONthink using the Zettelkasten method (zettelkasten.de). In my notes, I also include a link to the item in Zotero for easy reference (go to Preferences > Export > Quick Copy, Default Format > Zotero Select Item). Having everything in plain text files makes it easy to import those general notes into specific projects in Scrivener. I started using DEVONthink for my notes because I preferred plain text / Markdown over rich text, which is the only option in Zotero. In the end, I think they're both great systems for organizing your research. You just need to choose one and go all in. Where you get into trouble is when you try to keep your notes in two places. Good luck! Let me know how it goes!

[@TheNathanxmeyer]

Thanks Nicholas, I will let you know. Right now I am trying to sort out the pros and cons of notes actually “in” DEVONThink versus simply indexed there. I am drawn to the idea of having a note taking environment that is paired down for work and then simply going to DEVONThink when I want to explore connections / organize further. Maybe I am overthinking this lol!

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Nathan Meyer It sounds like there are no bad options. The trick is just to dive in!

[@dr.mobarakhossain3715]

Is there any option in Zotero to make Cross-reference (Hyperlink Citation) in word document? Please help me.

[@esk4esk]

Is a pdf attached as "stored copy to file" if only dragged over the parent item OR I should always do it through attachments--> attach stored copy to file? Can I delete it from the initial directory if already attached as a copy to a file in zotero? Thanks a million for the well made and detailed videos!

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

It's the same. Either way, you end up with the file stored in your Zotero database under a parent item. And once it's in your Zotero database, you can delete from the initial directory. One warning, though: Don't confuse "Attached Stored Copy of File" with "Attach Link to File." The latter will reference the file in the initial directory. It won't add a copy of the file to your database. So If you do "Attach Link to File" and then delete it from the initial directory, you'' lose the file.

[@publichealthuganda2328]

But whenever I add websites to zotero it brings snapshot and then it fails to add

[@lamin1979]

hi I need help. When i open pdf documents in my Zotero I cant save them back to zotero in order to extract the highlighted notes

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Hi, Lamin. Try this: universitytalk.org/2015/10/15/using-zotfile-on-a-pc-extracting-annotations/

[@lamin1979]

thanks for sharing. I will give it a try for sure

[@franciscogerardohernandezR1979]

The only issue I see it´s that you run out of space quite fast. 3 items without attachments already occupy 9MB.

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

You're right, it's definitely an issue. The good news is that everything is saved on your hard drive, so there's a lot of space. If you want to back up and sync your library, watch the video in this series on syncing. I review free and paid options.

[@Don_Luis]

Muchas gracias!

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

+Luis Armando Clavería Cambón, de nada! Si hay otro aspecto del programa que quieres que cubra, me avisas.

[@mazharali7552]

options do not show snapshot