Zotero

Once Zotero and any appropriate connectors are installed, you can begin collecting information about sources. Zotero "senses" information on a web page, and if it understands the data, easily lets you capture citation information into your library simply by clicking the icon in the URL/location bar.

Do you want to attach PDFs to citation information and store those PDFs in the cloud? There are two ways to do that. For more information, see Zotero's full documentation on adding attachments.

Automatic Attachment

If Zotero can sense the PDF on a citation page, you can set your preferences so Zotero automatically downloads the PDF.

1. Click Zotero > Settings
2. Choose General
3. Make sure the box next to "Automatically attach associated PDFs and other files when saving items" is checked off

Note: if you're using the article database JSTOR, you'll have to download your first citation manually in order click "OK" to JSTOR's terms and conditions. All subsequent JSTOR citations that you save during that session should download automatically.

Manual Attachment

File didn't automatically download when you saved the citation information? No worries. You can simply save the PDF to your computer, then right-click on the citation in your library and attach the file to it.

1. Right-click or control-click on the item in your Zotero library
2. Click Add Attachment
3. Click File and navigate to where you have saved the file you wish to attach.
4. Click Open to attach it to your item record

Zotero will move a copy of the file to your Zotero storage folder on your computer AND will sync it online (assuming you set up syncing of files earlier.)

Use collections and tags to organize your sources so they make sense to you. See Zotero's documentation for more information on using collections and tags.