Citation Management Software: Organizing Citations

Share Collections with Other Researchers

Zotero allows you to share collections with others by creating either private or public groups with associated libraries.

To create a group library:

• Navigate to the Zotero website
• Click Log In
• Enter your username and password
• Navigate to Groups 
• Click Create a New Group
• Add a group name
• Choose the group type
• Click Create Group
• Choose group settings (private; public, closed membership; public, open membership)
• Click Save Settings

If you set-up automatic syncing between Zotero Online and the Zotero desktop app, this new Group Library should automatically appear in the Zotero desktop app. If syncing is not automatic, open the Zotero desktop app and click the Sync with zotero.org icon.

To share a group library with others:

• Navigate to the Zotero website
• Click Log In
• Enter your username and password
• Navigate to Groups
• Click Manage Members beneath the group name
• Click Send More Invitations
• Add collaborators' email addresses
• Click Invite Members
• Choose member roles

Please visit Zotero's documentation page for more information.

Add References to a Collection or Sub-Collection

References can be included in multiple collections or sub-collections.

• Open the Zotero desktop app
• Select the item(s) you want to add to a collection or sub-collection
• Drag and drop to the collection or sub-collection

Add Tags to References

Tags are keywords that allow you to describe an item. You can add multiple tags to a single reference.

To add tags:

• Open the Zotero desktop app
• Click the reference you would like to tag
• Click the Tags tab
• Click Add and type the name of the tag
  • Zotero will automatically suggest matching existing tags
• Hit Enter on your keyboard or click the matching tag name

Rename Tags and Assign Colors

• Open the Zotero desktop app
• Navigate to the Tag Selector area
• Right click the name of a tag and select Rename Tag
• Type the new name of the tag
• Click OK
  • Zotero will update the tag name across all items that include it
  • Follow the same instructions to Assign a Tag Color or to Delete a Tag

Attach a PDF to a Reference

• Open the Zotero desktop app
• Right click the reference you would like to attach the PDF to
• Click Add Attachment and select Attach Stored Copy of File

Add a Note to a Reference

• Open the Zotero desktop app
• Select the reference you would like to add the note to
• Click Notes and select Add
• Type the note text
• Zotero will automatically save what you type

Find Duplicate References

Duplicate references are those that have been added to the same Zotero Library more than once. Items added to more than one Collection are not considered duplicate items.

• Open the Zotero desktop app
• Navigate to the appropriate library and click Duplicate Items
• Click each item to review its information
• Select Merge to create a single item