Searching in Zotero
Go to Edit → Advanced search or tick the Magnifying glass icon. The % sign functions as a wildcard: “W% Shakespeare” will match “W Shakespeare”, “W. Shakespeare” and so on.
Feel free to explore, since advanced search can be used in numerous ways; below are a couple of suggestions.
Advanced searches
To create a new file with your most recent imported items:
- Under Match, choose Date added → is in the last → choose from days/months/years → add the desired length of time in the search box (for example, type “30” to get the latest month if time is set to days) → Save search and enter a name.
- You will find the results of your search in a file with the name you chose, e.g., "References added in the last 30 days".
Using tags to search
By searching for labels, you can find related references in your library, for example those that relate to a specific topic.
Select My Library, then in the tag window at the bottom of the left side menu you will find all the tags that are used. Click on the tag to see all the references it is associated with.
You can also search for the tag in the search box. Find the tag and click on it and those citations will appear in the middle panel. You can also search for all tags in Advanced Search → select Tag as the search criterion → enter the name you are looking for in the search box → Search.
Free text search in PDF files
- To enable freetext search in the PDF files in Zotero, index the PDF files in your library. Go to: Edit → Settings → Advanced → Search → Rebuild index to index your PDF files. Note that some PDF files cannot be indexed. Under Index statistics you can see how many PDF files are indexed.
- By clicking the small arrow icon to the left of the Search box in your Zotero library and choosing Everything as a search alternative, you enable Zotero to search text in the PDF files stored in your library. Then search as usual by entering a search term in the box.