Reference management software: Zotero 7

1. Create and organise folders

Create a New collection and organise your items using folders (which Zotero calls "collections"). Drag and drop to re-organise.

2. Duplicate items

This is where you find your duplicates. Choose the item you wish to be the master item and tick Merge 2 items. From the popup window, you can also choose which metadata you want to retain in the item which is kept, by selecting the relevant field.

3. Unfiled items

In this file the items not yet sorted into folders are placed. Go through the list and see if you can place them in a pre-existing folder.

Notes are a good way to add personal thoughts and information to the items stored in your library. All notes will also be searchable in your library. There are two types of notes:

1. A child note is connected to an item. Mark your item and then click on the Notes sidebar option, next to the Info sidebar, to the right.
2. A standalone note, not connected to an item. Click on the New note icon or choose File → New note.

You can add tags to all the items in your library; some items already have some tags when you import them. Tags are a great way to make your items easy to find when your library grows large.

To add a new tag, mark an item in your library. Then click Add in the Tags tab and give your tag a name.

The Tag selector is located at the bottom of the left Zotero pane; click to make it visible. You will then see a list of all tags in use in your library. By right clicking a tag, you can assign a colour to it.

All tags are searchable.

Colored labels make it quick and easy to see certain references. There are 9 colors and these are numbered. Colored labels appear at the top of the labels list in numerical order regardless of whether they are included in the references in the center panel. You can easily color and label references by pressing a number on your keyboard. Right-click a label in the label field and select a color.

To create a relationship, select a reference and click the Similar Sources icon. Click the "Add" button and select one or more references from the same library in the pop-up window (hold down Ctrl or Shift [Windows/Linux] or Cmd or Shift [Mac] to select multiple references). Click Select. The selected references will now appear as similar sources, and clicking a reference will take you directly to that reference. 

Here are some suggestions for how you can use this feature: 

• link book chapters to their parent volume link book reviews to the reviewed book. 
• link different versions of a work (e.g., linking a conference presentation that eventually became an article). 
• link associated items from different collections. 
• link references that are parts of a single work (e.g., articles in a series). 
• link stand-alone notes to references. 
• link one reference to another that is discussed in the Abstract or Notes fields. 
• link references that have similar content or methods