
Zotero
Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share research.
- Freemium • Open Source
- Research Manager
- Document Manager
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- iPhone
- iPad
- Microsoft Edge
- Google Chrome
- Safari
- Microsoft Office Word
- Google Drive - Docs
- LibreOffice
- Firefox
What is Zotero?
Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, share research and cite your research sources directly in your favourite word processor, with 300 MB free online storage.
Zotero helps you organize your research any way you want. You can sort items into collections and tag them with keywords. Or create saved searches that automatically fill with relevant materials as you work.
Zotero instantly creates references and bibliographies for any text editor, and directly inside Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs. With support for over 100,000 citation styles, you can format your work to match any style guide or publication.
Zotero can optionally synchronize your data across devices, keeping your notes, files, and bibliographic records seamlessly up to date. If you decide to sync, you can also always access your research from any web browser.
Zotero lets you co-write a paper with a colleague, distribute course materials to students, or build a collaborative bibliography. You can share a Zotero library with as many people you like, at no cost.
Zotero Screenshots






Zotero Features
- Ad-free
- Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
- PDF annotation
- Full-Text Search
- Cloud Sync
- Support for MarkDown
- Privacy focused
- Real time collaboration
- File Tagging
- Browser integration
- LibreOffice Integration
- Knowledge Management
- Export to LaTeX
- Document Management
- Microsoft Office integration
- Cross-references
- Library Management
- Google docs integration
- WebDAV Support
- Compatible with Microsoft Office
- Importing from webpages
- Multiple languages
- Export to CSV
- Save web page for offline use
- WebDAV Sync
Zotero information
Supported Languages
- English
Apple AppStore
- Updated
- 4.82 avg rating
GitHub repository
- 6,390 Stars
- 570 Forks
- 994 Open Issues
- Updated
Comments and Reviews
Tags
- Cloud Storage
- Research Manager
- Firefox Extension
- Google Chrome Extension
- notesync
- generate-bibliographies
- bibliography
- notes-management
- citation-management
- metadata-extraction
- chromium-extension
- bibliography-management
- online-memory
Categories
Web Browsers • Backup & Sync • File Management • Office & Productivity • Education & ReferenceRecent user activities on Zotero
nicolestubbs8liked Zotero
- MJadded Full-Text Search as a feature to ZoteroMJ
- MJUpvoted a comment on ZoteroMJFastest solution I've used. Use the Chrome extension to collect citations and the Word/Google Docs add-in to add them to a document instantly. Then, automatically generate a bibliography
In addition to doing what it's supposed to do, it has super nice features: Clean interface, importing papers/pages directly from the browser (using Mozilla Connector extension), adding notes and attachments, exporting the full library in BibteX format, the amazing available plugins (like Zot_Bib_Web by David Reitter).
I started with EndNote, but it was feeling so old... Zotero is advanced (may be a bit overwhelming, when you try out also plugins) but will for sure get you there where you need with the reference management if you tweak a bit! With ZotFile you can also nicely sync Zotero with mobile devices.
Plugins don't seem to help with quotes: https://www.zotero.org/support/plugins
It is simply the best References Manager available, with fast development of new features, an amazing team of developers listening to users, and a strong community of users. Zotero is completely open source. It has been developed steadily for over 16 years. Together with the open source development of the software, this gives you strong confidence that your data is safe and will never be locked away by the company as others are doing. It is free to use locally on your computer. You only pay for online storage if you want to sync your data online. From Zotero 6, it is now possible to open PDF files directly within Zotero, and make annotations. This was the key feature that made me jump from Mendeley. I have used many different Reference Managers. Importing references in Zotero with the metadata and PDF files from the publishers websites with the browser extension is by far the highest quality in Zotero compared to the other Reference Managers I have used. And the developers are constantly listening to users for cases where it still needs to be improved.
I just updated from Zotero version 5 to 6 They changed the note editor and all the notes they had written before were messed up. Even the note editor has been changed to a more stupid bullet style. (What the hell did TinyMCE change to?)
I rolled back to version 5, but my database has been upgraded to version 6 and I can't open it.
There is one more thing that I have been dissatisfied with for a long time. If they can already be equipped with Rich Text Editor, the function to preview the saved html file can be implemented. Nevertheless, the html files saved by the web clipper cannot be previewed. In fact, you have to double-click to open all files, not just html. Only pdf files can be previewed with the plugin.
Users can use https://www.zotero.org/support/notes for quotations as workaround with Zotero 6.0.9.
Zotero 6.0.9 doesn't support quotations out of box... Just references.