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Zotero: More help

This guide will help you use the free online citation and research management tool Zotero to organize citations from Library catalogs and databases.

More help

Additional documentation, along with more instructional videos, is available at Zotero's web site.

The Library sometimes offers workshops on Zotero and other citation management tools. We will do so "on demand" if a minimum of 5 students will be in attendance. You can also email questions to Jennifer Dorner at the Social Research Library, David Eifler at the Environmental Design Library, or Lisa Ngo at the Engineering Library.

Zotero Basics - online tutorial

For better visibility, click the Google Slides icon and launch the slideshow. Or just click on this Zotero Basics link.

Use Library Lookup to find full text

In the Preferences window, under the "Advanced" tab, click on the drop-down menu under OpenURL, choose North America, and find UC Berkeley in the list. This will add the URL of the resolver that will help you find full text when you use the Library Lookup feature.

fill resolver field with https://search.library.berkeley.edu/openurl/01UCS_BER/01UCS_BER:UCB?

When you want to retrieve an item not already stored in your collection, click on the green arrow above the Item Details window and select "Library Lookup"

.Library lookup menu

A more extensive list of list of search engines you can use to find resources is available from Stephen Chignell (see credits). Download the engines.json file, navigate on your computer to Zotero/locate folder, and replace the engines.json file. Close and restart Zotero. If you can't find the folder, do a search for engines.json in Windows Explorer.

Language Support

Switching languages

Zotero's interface language defaults to matching the operating system's language. You can change the language to one of the options provided in the drop-down menu under Edit > Preferences > Advanced > General

To keep Zotero's user interface in one language, but to use another language for the citations and bibliographies created by Zotero, select the citation language you would like to use from either:

  • The "Create Bibliography from Selected Item(s)" dialog
  • The word processor integration plugin's document preferences window
  • The Quick Copy section in the Export pane of the Zotero preferences

JURIS-M is an unofficial version of Zotero that allows you to store transliterations and translations of names, titles, and other fields, and create citations and bibliographies that show this information.

Formatting footnotes and endnotes

In the word processing program Zotero does create the footnote (or endnote), but it does so by passing a "create footnote" command on to your word processor. Any issues relating to the format of the footnote or what numbering style to use needs to be set in your word processor. 

Zotero Bookmarklet for mobile devices

If you are using a mobile device or a browser not supported by the Zotero software, you can use the Zotero Bookmarklet to save items to your Zotero library on the Zotero servers. Once you have registered for a free Zotero account, follow the instructions for installing the Bookmarklet

When you open up the Zotero application on your computer and sync your library with Zotero's servers, the items will be added to "My Library." You can then add them to your collections.

More Add-ons (plugins)

On the Zotero site you can find a list of additional plugins for Zotero created by Zotero users.