Zotero is a free online tool that helps you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources. These brief tutorials will help you get started using the basic functions of Zotero. For more information and support, you can consult the Zotero website. Note that all the tutorials were created using Zotero for Firefox in a Windows environment.
Add Tags
Tags are keywords you can assign to items that allow you to characterize items and group them together outside of collections.
- Zotero has a very nice built-in integration with Microsoft Word and Libre Office. A bit of magic is needed if one wants to use it with LaTeX or (like me) with rmarkdown. The magic part is the Better BibTeX plugin, which we’ve installed and set up earlier.
- ZoteroBib is a free service that helps you build a bibliography instantly from any computer or device, without creating an account or installing any software.
Tags can be imported from databases along with citation information or they can be added manually.
All tags are searchable through the Zotero search box.
Disable Automatic Tagging
It is highly recommended that you disable automatic tagging. In General Preferences, uncheck the box next to 'Automatically tag items with keywords and subject headings.' After you disable automatic tagging, your library will only contain tags that you add manually.
Manually Add Tags
To tag items yourself, select an item in Zotero and then select the 'Tags' tab in the column on the right.
Click on 'Add.' Enter the word or phrase you want to use and press Enter.
Tags can be renamed by clicking on them and deleted by using the 'minus' button.
Your tags will now appear in Zotero's bottom left window pane.
Adding Multiple Items to a Tag
You can add items in bulk to an already existing tag by selecting all of the items within a collection that you want to assign that tag and then dragging them onto the tag in the Tag Pane.
Color-coded tags
You can assign colors to your tags. Zotero has 9 built-in colors, and up to 6 tags in your library can be assigned a color.
Right click on the tag you want to assign a color.
Choose 'Assign color' from the popup menu.
Select the color you want and click 'set color.'
Zotero Bibliography
Colored tags appear next to the item title.