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Zotero: Add & Organize Sources

Open Source Citation Management Tool

Collecting Sources: Books and Articles

Zotero detects what you're looking at and can save the citation information. Once the citation has been saved, click once to open the edit menu, double click to go to the article.

Single Item 

When you're looking at a book or article on a library catalog, database, or website, a book or page icon appears in the address bar of your browser. Click the icon and Zotero will automatically save the citation.

Multiple Items 

When you're on a search results page with many items, a folder icon appears. Click to get a list of all the items on the page, and check off the ones you want to save.

Collecting Sources: Other Web Sites

Zotero can't automatically capture citation info from some web pages, but you can still add them to your Zotero library.

Right-click in your browser and choose "Save to Zotero" from the menu. This will save a new "web page" item to your library. You can add information about the author, etc., if you wish.

Saving attaches a snapshot of the page to the citation. Snapshots are saved on your computer and include the page's text and images. If the page is removed or you're offline, you'll still be able to view your copy.

Organizing Your Library

Creating a Collection

Create collections to organize your references. Collections are like file folders on your computer, but a reference can be in more than one collection at a time. 

  1. Open your library.
  2. Click the folder button with a green plus sign at the top left to create a new "collection."

Attaching Files

Zotero automatically saves PDFs along with citations when possible. Attachments take up space in your Zotero account. You get 300 MB free and can buy more space if needed.