LibGuides: Northwell/ZSOM: Zotero: Managing Your Library

Organizing Your Library

Items in Zotero libraries can be organized with collections.

Collections allow hierarchical organization of items into groups and subgroups, similar to folders on your computer. The same item can belong to multiple collections and subcollections in your library at the same time. Collections are useful for filing items in meaningful groups (e.g., items for a particular project, from a specific source, on a specific topic, or for a particular course). You can import items directly to a specific collection or add them to collections after they are already in your library. When using the Zotero Connector, items will automatically be added to the collection open in Zotero Standalone.

To create a collection:

Click the yellow icon that looks like a file folder , above the library pane.
Enter a name for your collection.

Moving items to a different collection:

Go back to your My Library view.
Search for the items you want to add to the new collection.
Select the items you want to add in the center pane and drag them onto the new collection in the collections pane on the left.

Creating a subcollection:

Right-click on an existing collection.
Select "New Subcollection" from the context menu.
Enter a name for the subcollection.

Special collections:

My Publications
The My Publications feature allows you to automatically create a bibliography of your research and share copies of your work on zotero.org.
Duplicate Items
As you build your Zotero library, you might introduce a few duplicated items. For example, you could have saved the same item twice from a webpage, or imported items already in your library. Fortunately, Zotero can help you identify possible duplicates and allow you to merge them.
Trash
When you delete an item by pressing Delete (Cmd/Ctrl-Delete in a collection) or by right-clicking and choosing “Move Item(s) to Trash”, they are moved to the Trash special collection. By default, items remain in the Trash for 30 days.

Adding Notes

In addition to items and file attachments, you can also store notes in your Zotero library. Notes can be attached to a specific item or standalone.

To create a note attached to an item, select the item in the center pane. Then, either click the “New Note” button at the top of the center pane () and select “Add Child Note”, or go to the “Notes” tab in the right-hand pane and click the “Add” button.

You can also right-click an item and select “Add Note”.

Notes are useful for recording information you want to remember about a specific item. You can also add links.

Creating a Bibliography from a Zotero Collection

In Zotero, select the collection from which you would like to create a bibliography. Right-click on it and select Create Bibliography from Collection.

In the pop-up window that opens, select the Citation Style you would like to use, set the Output Mode to Bibliography, and select your preferred Output Method.

Drag & Drop Citations

If you just want to quickly add references to a paper, email, or blog post, Zotero's Quick Copy is the easiest way to go.

In Zotero, select the items you would like to include in your bibliography (holding down the CTRL [Windows] or Command [Mac] keys while clicking on items with your mouse). If you would like to select items from different collections, select them from the My Library view.
Drag and drop the selected items where you need them (Word document, email, etc). The items will be formatted into a bibliography according to the citation style you have selected under the Export section of Zotero Preferences.

To change the citation style for drag and drop references:

Go to edit > preferences to launch the preferences menu
In the preferences menu, click on Export. Here you can change the citation style under "Item Format."