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Citation Management

Writing a paper is hard! It's a little bit easier with citation management.

Organize Citations

How do I organize citations in Zotero using collections?

Collections allow you to group citations together into folders.

To organize citations with collections:

  1. From within Zotero Standalone, click on the icon of the folder (top, left).

Screenshot of Zotero highlighting 'New Collection' button in the top left corner.
 

  1. You will be prompted to create a new collection.

  2. Type a name for your collection and click OK.

Screenshot of Zotero highlighting popup window for naming a new collection.
 

  1. Once your collection is created, you drag and drop citations into it.

Screenshot of Zotero highlighting dragging and dropping citations onto a collection.
 

OR,

if you have the collection highlighted,

Screenshot of Zotero highlighting newly created collection called 'Demo.'
 

you can use the Zotero Connector button to add a citation to Zotero Standalone and it will be saved automatically in that collection.

Screenshot of Zotero Connector popup window showing a citation is being saved into a specific collection called 'Demo.'
 

Please be aware if you export your Zotero library: tags will be retained but collections will not. See Zotero's documentation on collections and tags for detailed information on the topic.

How do I organize citations in Zotero using tags?

Tags help you describe citations in more detail. You can create your own tags or Zotero automatically tags citations with keywords and subject headings that come from a publisher, author, database, or index. 

Tags come in two colors:

  1. Your own tags will have a blue icon:

Screenshot of personal tags in Zotero with blue tag icons.
 

  1. Imported tags will have an orange icon:

Screenshot of imported tags in Zotero with orange tag icons.

 

Tags show up in Zotero Standalone in two places:

  1. At the bottom of the left panel there is a list of all tags: 

Screenshot of Zotero with arrow pointing down to the left corner where you can find all tags.
 

  1. When you click into a single citation:

Screenshot of Zotero with arrow pointing from the center citation panel to the left details panel showing tags tab.

To create a tag:

  1. Click on a citation in the center panel to reveal details in the right panel.
  2. Choose the tags tab.

Close up screenshot of the Zotero tags tab.

  1. Click on ‘Add.’
  2. Look for a blank field with a blue icon at the bottom of the list.
  3. Name your tag by typing in the field.

Close up screenshot of the Zotero tags tab with the field open to add a tag.

  1. Push the enter or return key on your keyboard when you are finished naming your tag.
  2. Your tag will appear in the tag list alphabetically.

To add multiple citations to a single tag:

  1. Search for your tag in the tag search field in Zotero Standalone.

Screenshot of tags section of Zotero highlighting the search field and a specific tag.

  1. Select, drag and drop the citations onto the tag.

Screenshot showing how to drag and drop multiple citations onto a single tag in Zotero.

To add tags with a single key on your keyboard:

  1. Right-click or CTRL click on a tag..
  2. Choose ‘assign color.’

Screenshot of the drop down menu that appears after right-clicking on a tag in Zotero

  1. Pick a color and Zotero will automatically assign a number to that color.

Screenshot of tag color and position popup window in Zotero.

  1. Click on ‘set color’ and the tag changes to that color and a dot with that color will appear next to your citations.

Screenshot of Zotero tag with blue font and a small blue box next to each citation.

  1. Select a citation and push the key on your keyboard associated with the tag color and Zotero will automatically tag your citation with a single keystroke

See Zotero's documentation about collections and tags for more information about tags (e.g. adding colors and keyboard shortcuts with numbers).