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Milner Library

Zotero

This guide provides in-depth instructions on how to use Zotero, organize sources, and create in-text citations and bibliographies.

Transferring Sources from EndNote Basic and Other Platforms

  1. Log into your EndNote Basic account
  2. Click the Format link in the top toolbar
  3. Click Export References link on the sub-menu
  4. Select the Export options on the next page
    1. Click the group from the References drop down menu
    2. Choose Refman (RIS) Export in the Export Style drop down menu
    3. Click the Save button
      • Note: Once downloaded, you can rename the default exportlist.txt file to reflect the group name within EndNote Basic
  5. Within Zotero, choose Import... from the File menu
  6. Verify from a file is selected and click the Next button
  7. Navigate to the location of your txt file, select it, and click the Open button
  8. Select your File Options and click the Next button
    • Recommendation: Check the Place imported collections and items into new collection option to automatically create a collection
  9. When the import is complete, click the Finish button

Note: If you have PDF files you can just drag and drop them into the Zotero Library or a specific collection.

Currently, sources can only be exported via the Mendeley Desktop app. The Export to MS Word option in the Web Library is an unreadable file format by Zotero.

  1. Open the Mendeley Desktop app
  2. Select the All Documents folder (or a specific folder)
  3. Select all of the documents in the list
  4. From the File menu, choose Export...
  5. In the popup window,
    1. choose the location you want to save your file to
    2. Type in a filename
    3. Choose the export format RIS
      • BibTeX (*.bib) and EndNote XML (*.xml) are for other applications
  6. Within Zotero, choose Import... from the File menu
    1. Mendeley will be an option to select. However, Elsevier begun encrypting the local database staring with version 1.19, making it unreadable by Zotero and other standard database tools.
  7. Verify 'from a file' is selected and click the Next button
  8. Navigate to the location of your RIS file, select it, and click the Open button
  9. Select your File Options and click the Next button
    • Recommendation: Check the Place imported collections and items into new collection option to automatically create a collection
  10. When the import is complete, click the Finish button

Note: If you have PDF files you can just drag and drop them into the Zotero Library or a specific collection.

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