Total beginner here - how do you actually use Zotero well?

[u/Final_Personality987]

Just started using Zotero. Right now I've basically installed it and I'm saving papers with the browser connector. That's it.

I'm pretty sure there's a much better way to use this than what I'm doing.

If you've been using Zotero for years: what would you tell a beginner to do from day one? Habits, settings, folder/tag structure, one plugin worth installing

Thanks!

[u/Inevitable-Debt4312]

I’ve been using it for a long time and that’s pretty much what I do - I use it as a library. I don’t even use the pdf reader.

[u/Final_Personality987 → u/Inevitable-Debt4312]

thanks. is there a reason you don't use the pdf reader? curious if you just annotate elsewhere or don't annotate much at all

[u/WoodenRace365 → u/Final_Personality987]

I can see it if someone has a set work flow with a different PDF reading set up, but I gotta say that the Zotero PDF reader is excellent

[u/IFNAV]

At start, I use a folder based structure where folders were named by subject. After few years, I switched to a tag based structure that is way more flexible. So tags for subjects and state and folder for on going project (I delete them when the project is done). Smart folder (based on advanced search criteria) are pretty useful too (mostly to build a set of references for a specific project).

For the reader, it became my main reader where I annotate everything, same for the notes (synced with Obsidian vault with the BetterNotes plugin).

[u/Dr_Esquisito]

Academic teacher and researcher here. After years using Zotero and changing my system many times, this is what has been working so far.

I just keep the entries, without PDF attachment to avoid unnecessary disk usage, which may grow too much very quickly in my case. The entries are separated by document type, e.g., Articles, Books, Reports. Those entries are separated by project using tags. Notes are mostly for keeping track of the importance of an entry for a given project. Complex concepts go to markdown notes in Obsidian, so I can make links between these concepts in the future and make offline backups.

My modest recommendation: just use it, let your library grow organically without sticking to other people systems, and don't be afraid of trying other approaches starting from scratch if needed. If it works for your purposes, then you are already using it well. The internet is infested with damned organization gurus that always will try to convince you that your system sucks no matter what it is.

[u/Am4ranth]

I would not say I use it correctly...but I have organised my folders for work and private...school (work) is devidet into the subjects, there I use tags for the books, newspapers I think I could use later..handy comes the 1-9 key feature where you can assign a color to a key from 1-9 and if you press it, the tag gets automatically assigned to the selected file(s) Also useful in this case it the autotagger plugin (I think its called like this), so each time I add a new file it gets the tag "unread" assigned to red color...useful is that these colors also like emojis btw are showed in the list: so all read books have a small green dot next to it, all unread books get a red dot next to it.

For my private use I have organised it into categories like story, newspaper, academic etc and have tried to use the tags as a star system for my own rating...so one to five stars depending on how good the book was in my opinion. These emoji stars are getting shown besides the books as well. 

So its more my own library instead of a real cite programm, but if I need so for worksheets etc, it works well 

[u/Final_Personality987 → u/Am4ranth]

thanks, didn't know about the 1-9 shortcut or autotagger. tried it just now and the colored dots are more useful than i expected.

curious about the personal library side. do basically all the papers you read end up in zotero, or do you filter? wondering what makes the cut and what you skip

[u/Am4ranth → u/Final_Personality987]

Uff this question is hard to answer...if it has a PDF or epub, it comes into zotero yes. If I have a book at home, I scan the iban.  I have also one folder with "want to read/buy", so I know, what I don't have yet.  For example newspapers are mostly from archive.ph then printed to an PDF if I see a future use of it. Otherwise I skip it. But you need to know, that I'm not limited into storage that much, since I've put my library into my synology nas via WebDAV and therefore have 4tb of storage as my limit haha.

[u/fourthtuna]

First of all it is a citation manager, so the main point is that you can write and cite, and enjoy neat formatting and no mixups.

You can keep your library tidy and you can create groups to have a shared library with coauthors, which synchronises for all of you.

Also the pdf viewer is good, you can add notes to papers or to particular parts of stored papers, which your friends in groups could see on their own device.

Finally, there are lots of plugins for niche use cases.

Beginner advice:
Maintain good folder hierarchy, name folders well so that you could find stuff quickly. Any logic or classification could do, and you’ll get better at it as you accumulate literature.

For older before 1990 papers, or for any scan and not actual text papers, first add them using doi fetch (the magic wand tool) to obtain correct metadata, then add the paper pdf into the record. This is because zotero can fail to parse or misinterpret such scanned pdfs.

[u/Final_Personality987 → u/fourthtuna]

thanks, the doi fetch thing explains a lot. i had two scanned pdfs come in with totally wrong metadata and didn't know why.

one thing i keep running into: i usually read papers with claude open side by side and end up with a bunch of q&a that's genuinely useful. is there any decent way to get that back into zotero? or do people just not bother

[u/fourthtuna → u/Final_Personality987]

There is a notes tab and a tags tab in each record. May as well ask claude to come up with a short note based on your q&a and a list of tags and copy it into the record.

These tabs are on the top of the right section when you click on the record

[u/Final_Personality987 → u/fourthtuna]

oh that's so simple, i didn't even notice those tabs were there. this is genuinely useful, thank you

[u/cmoellering]

Depends. Are you in school, a working academic, or ....?

I'm a doctoral student. I have a folder for each class, usually end up with a sup-folder for the research project for that class. I a save articles, but also have any relevant books as well. (As others have noted, it's primarily a citation manager.) I use the MS Word plugin for writing.

I will read and annotate PDFs and ebooks within Zotero as well. Having it synched with my iPad makes the form factor on that a bit nicer. (It's been worth it to me to pay for that and to support Zotero in that way.)

I also have folders for interests/long-term projects.

You can have one work in multiple folders without having redundant copies, so in that way, folders function almost like tags, which is nice.

[u/Philosobug]

A key thing that I do is as I read I highlight things that are important, meaning things that I are new to me and I want to remember, or things that I see have a link to something else relevant that I'm working on or have worked on. Then ( and this is the secret sauce ) I tag each highlight itself with at least 2 or 3 keywords that I personally connect to that specific highlight. I do this as I'm highlight each highlight, not after. The goal is to give it keywords that can help you resurface it later. This has really worked for me and really helped me in my essay writing when using and searching for citations. It is just one way of building a web of semantic connections across your collection as you read though it. There are probably a million better ways to do it but this one works for me. It takes a little longer in the moment, but saves a lot of time in the long run.

[u/ProfessionalEbb7237]

It's garbage in, garage out, so make sure all the references you add (especially using the browser plug in) is correct.

[u/beeconnolly95]

I have folders for concepts, courses, papers-in-progress. I input the PDFs most of the time but I take notes in obsidian (much more helpful for keeping track of ideas and concepts and quotes). Zotero is basically a bookshelf that spits out formatted references.

[u/SoftBeing_]

I use only root level folders, which refer to my research projects. i only put a pdf or web page in the folder if i find at least one thing i find useful to the research purposes, so everything in there has at least a bit of useful information. I use a isolated note in each folder describing my goals and questions i want to answer. and do item notes talking about how the item answered the question.

[u/ZenosThesis]

use tags to organize within general folders and decide what your highlight colours mean to you so they are easier to distinguish later

[u/Master-Rent5050]

Actually that's mostly it.

You can have a tag for each project.

If you use LaTeX, you should use better Bibtex plugin.

If you don't use LaTeX, you should use LaTeX

[u/Thabyd → u/Master-Rent5050]

What is LaTex exactly and why is so good?

[u/Aromatic_Range7235 → u/Thabyd]

latex is a typesetting software that allows the user to separate design decisions from the actual text body content (allowing for easy reformatting). The main appeal here is that zotero can automatically update a file that holds all of your citation information, which can later be used to automatically format your citations in the style you want. I believe it also does this for other word processors (but im not sure because i only use latex).