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Zotero

What can Zotero do for you?

Zotero tutorials

Carleton-specific Install and Set Up

1) Get a (free) Zotero account.

Signing up with your Carleton email address will get you unlimited free storage.
Signing up with a personal email address will get you 300MB of free storage.

2) Install BOTH the Zotero program and the Browser "Connector."

If the Zotero connector doesn't seem to be communicating with your Zotero application, go to Zotero.org and log in with your zotero account. This will let your browser, and therefore the connector, know who you are, and it will be able to send citations to your Zotero application again.

3) Configure Zotero's Preferences

Open Preferences
  • Windows users, click Edit > Preferences; Mac users, click Zotero > Preferences
Sync to your Zotero Account
  1. In Preferences, click "Sync"

  2. Enter your Zotero username and password.

Get Word/LibreOffice Plugins
  1. In Preferences, click "Cite."

  2. Click the button for either "Install Microsoft Word Add-in" or "Install LibreOffice/OpenOffice.org/NeoOffice Add-in."

Making the "Library Lookup" option work like the library's "Find It" button.
  1. In Preferences, click "Advanced."

  2. In the "OpenURL" section, replace the URL in the "Resolver" box with the URL

Optional, depending on your circumstances

Keeping Zotero from interfering with EndNote

(only necessary if you use both and want EndNote to be your default for database exports)

  1. In your web browser, find the Zotero extension preferences
    1. In Chrome: click "Window > Extensions > Zotero Options
    2. In Firefox: click Tools > Add-ons > Zotero Preferences
    3. In Safari: Safari does not offer extension preferences that you can configure
  2. Under "Automatic File Importing," uncheck the box next to "Import BibTeX/RIS/Refer files into Zotero."
Keeping Zotero from blocking access to your Catalyst account

Sometimes (but not always) the Zotero connector in your browser will need some configuring. This is especially true if you click "accept" when Zotero asks you whether to configure proxy information. While configuring a proxy can make your saved URLs work from off campus, they also seem to interfere with some Catalyst functionality. If you find yourself running into difficulties logging into your library account through Catalyst, here's how to fix that.

  1. In your web browser, find the Zotero extension preferences
    1. In Chrome: click "Window > Extensions > Zotero Options
    2. In Firefox: click Tools > Add-ons > Zotero Preferences
    3. In Safari: Safari does not offer extension preferences that you can configure
  2. Open the extension click "Proxies"
  3. Under "Configured Proxies" delete default proxy. That box should be blank.

Zotero has good documentation online

If you want more details and often even videos, check out their online documentation.

On a Lab Computer?

On a lab computer, using Chrome on the Mac interface, you will have to enable the Zotero Connector.

Click Window > Extensions and then check the box to enable the Zotero Connector.

You will also have to sync your library if you want to save information from session to session. (See the Install and Setup section above.)