The Library: Reference management

This is the quickest way to add items you already have saved to e.g. usb sticks, other file systems. Simply open your file explorer and drag single or multiple PDFs from your computer to your Collection (left column) or Library (centre column):

Each PDF will be added to your library as a single item. Zotero will try to extract any metadata and populate the bibliographic fields. You will need to check these details. Click on an item in your library, then, if necessary, click in any empty or incomplete fields in the right-hand menu to add or edit details:

PDFs: You can save a PDF to an item in your Library. Drag it into your Zotero pane and drop it onto the existing library item, or right-click on the library item and Attach Saved Copy of File: 

Browse to the PDF you downloaded and save it. The blue dot to the right of the entry will change to a pdf icon. You will now have the bibliographic record and the PDF attached: 

DOI and ISBNs: Using the Add item by identifier magic wand you can add DOIs of journal articles or ISBNs of books. (You can also add using PMIDs, PubMed files, or arXiv IDs). In the case of DOIs you will link to the persistent record and thus the journal article. When using ISBNs it will populate with the item data:

1. Create a folder in your computer’s Dropbox/GDrive/OneDrive drive to store your Zotero PDFs, i.e. ZoteroFilesinOnedrive. Make sure it is properly synced with Dropbox/GDrive/etc.online.
2. In Zotero, go to Zotero Edit > Preferences > Advanced > Files and Folders. Change your Zotero file storage Base Directory by using the Choose… option to go to the folder you just set up. Now any PDF files you download as attachments to a Zotero record will be automatically saved in this synced folder, which will store the files online in your cloud storage app. Note: This is a *relational* link – if you change the file structure in any way, the link between the saved file in Dropbox/GDrive/etc. and your Zotero record will be lost.
3. Once you have created a Zotero record and separately uploaded your PDF to your cloud storage option, make sure you are working with the correct record in Zotero for your article. Open your Dropbox/GDrive/etc. online and open the PDF so it is readable on-screen, with a .PDF extension. Attach your link to its Zotero record using either the paperclip option in Zotero‘s toolbar (Attach Link to URI) or by right-clicking on the Zotero item, selecting Add Attachment, and then selecting Attach Link to URI. You will be prompted to paste in the file URL and add a title. Zotero will not be able to extract the correct title using Rename File from Parent Metadata, but you can change it later manually. Note: If you use Google Drive, once you open the PDF in Drive you will have to click on the pop-out option in the upper right of the page to get a unique URL (it will not have a PDF extension, but it will work).
4. Sync your Zotero library so the article’s item record on your library on Zotero.org is updated as well to include the cloud storage file links.
5. Now from this computer, or your library on Zotero.org, or any other computer that is synced to it, you will be able to open the PDF from the Zotero record if you are logged in to your Dropbox/etc. account (if you aren’t, you will be prompted to log in). Note: If you are opening it from your Zotero application on your desktop/laptop, the file will just open as an online PDF once you click on the link. If you are accessing it online from Zotero.org, you will have to click on the Attachment Details link at the bottom of the article item record and then you will see the Dropbox/GDrive/etc. link. Using these settings, any saved webpage screenshots will continue to be saved in your regular Zotero folder, not on Dropbox/GDrive/etc., and the screenshots will be saved on and directly accessible from your library on Zotero.org. Any PDF files previously saved to your regular Zotero folder will still be there, and will continue to be saved on, and directly accessible from, your library on Zotero.org.
6. If you don’t want ALL your article PDFs (or other attachment files) to be saved to your Dropbox/GDrive/etc., you can keep your default Zotero preferences and save individual items to Dropbox/etc., manually as needed. To do this, move/upload the PDF file you want to access via Dropbox/etc. to Dropbox/etc. manually, then follow the directions starting at #3.

The Zotero Web Connector for your browser allows you to import PDFs, web pages, video, images and other content directly into your reference library from search engines and academic databases with one click. When using this option, see if it has captured any PDFs as you may need to manually add these in different databases (see Adding without Web Connector on this page).

Try using the Connector first with any database or website as it is the quickest option to add an item. When you are looking at an item record online, the Zotero Connector button in your browser's toolbar will indicate that Zotero has detected a particular type of object, e.g. book, article, website, case, or it will show a folder where there are multiple records for you to choose from.

Use Library Lookup to try to locate the full text of any item saved to Zotero through Leeds Beckett Library. This may be the PDF of a Journal Article, or you can use it to find out if we have a book in stock:

To link to Leeds Beckett systems through Zotero first click the Zotero Edit menu and choose Preferences.

Click Advanced and type https://leedsbeckett.on.worldcat.org/atoztitles/link? into the Resolver field:

Click a single item or multiple items in your Zotero Library you want to find the full text for.

Click on the menu expander beside the green arrow and choose Library Lookup: 

A Discover record of the item will open. From here you can access the resource if it is available, e.g. an ebook link, or article PDF, and attach it to the record in Zotero (right click on the item and choose Attach file). If it is not available you can choose to click on Request It from here to see if Leeds Beckett Library can acquire a copy for you.

Where the web connector does not work, and where there is no PDF available, you can choose Export > RIS from most academic databases. This will download a .RIS file that you can either drag and drop into your Zotero library, or click File > Import > a BibTex, RIS, Zotero RDF etc. > Next > choose your file. Click Next and your files should import. The resource records will then be listed in your Zotero library.

Adding to your library manually
This is not recommended as it is very time consuming but may be occasionally necessary. To manually add an item to your Zotero library, click the green “New Item” button at the top of the centre column, and select the desired item type from the drop-down menu; the complete list of item types can be found under “More”. An empty item of the selected item type will now appear in the centre column where you can manually enter the item's bibliographic information in the right column.