Suggestions for future updates to Zotero Connector

LoganJFisher

Zotero Connector is a great feature and I'm glad it exists, but I'd love to see a bit more work put into its development. I have a couple of specific suggestions.

1. Rather than show a different icon based on the currently viewed page, just make it the Zotero "Z" logo for quick recognizability.

2. When left clicked, rather than immediately saving the viewed page to your Zotero library, it should open a drop-down menu that gives options including:

* "View Details" (see all of the details that will be saved to Zotero and edit them)
* "Save to Library" (dumps it in your library)
* "Save to Collection" (places in a specific collection in your Zotero library)
* "Open Zotero" - located at the bottom as a stylized button (go to the web library or desktop app by user choice)

This would add a great deal of functionality and stylization to the Zotero Connector addon.

dstillman

"a bit more work put into its development" is a bizarre phrasing. The Connector is actively developed. If there's something you'd like to see, just request it. But we may just disagree with your suggestions.

1. Rather than show a different icon based on the currently viewed page, just make it the Zotero "Z" logo for quick recognizability.

There's been talk of badging the icon with a Z for easier recognizability, but showing the detected item type is obviously intentional and provides a useful signal about the quality of the data that's likely to be saved.

2. When left clicked, rather than immediately saving the viewed page to your Zotero library, it should open a drop-down menu that gives options including:

The save popup already lets you save to any library or collection in your library, including the most recent destinations. Editing happens in Zotero — there's no need to duplicate that functionality in the Connector. And the saved item is automatically selected in Zotero, which you can switch to by clicking the icon in your dock or using Alt/Cmd-Tab. We can't reliably bring Zotero to the front on all platforms.

LoganJFisher

Sorry about the odd phrasing. I didn't mean to imply that it's not being worked on, but that I'd like to see some work in this particular direction.

I think it makes more sense for that sort of info to appear in a dropdown rather than compromising the recognizability of the addon's icon.

The popup is nice, but it only activates when the desktop app is running. I'd like to see a shift towards encouraging more use of the web library. Right now, that popup doesn't appear at all when the desktop app is closed, and it instead just dumps the resource directly into your library.

dstillman

We'll add support for showing the full popup when saving directly to the web library at some point, but the web library just doesn't offer the full Zotero experience and never will, so it's not much of a priority.

LoganJFisher

If the full Zotero experience is never going to be incorporated into the web library, then I think the addition of a "close to tray" option for the desktop app should be prioritized.

I suppose on that note, has Zotero ever ran a poll on user preferences? Personally, I have absolutely no reason to ever use the desktop app as I have Zotero integrated into Overleaf and do all of my work in TeX. All of the desktop-exclusive features mentioned on that link are irrelevant to my workflow and I'm curious how significant they are to a statistically average user. I suppose the question is - am I really that much of an outlier?

dstillman

I have Zotero integrated into Overleaf and do all of my work in TeX

am I really that much of an outlier?

Yes, obviously?

lamorton

Just dropping in to add support for a static icon. Some of the version look similar to other tray icons, so I keep adding papers to my recipe app by accident or vice versa, for instance. I would prefer alt-text if that's possible, as a means of communicating the detected item type.