Best way to import a CSV File.

vnsgummadi

Hello everyone,

I have exported a collection in Zotero into a CSV file to perform data analysis. So, now I have completed all the analysis and updated the CSV file. I want to delete the existing collection and import the updated CSV file into Zotero. But, as Zotero doesn't support importing CSV files directly, is there any easy way to convert that CSV into any other file type that Zotero accepts and import it as a collection?

emilianoeheyns

RIS will be the easiest format to convert to. Note that if you delete and recreate, existing documents that refer to these items will have broken references.

vnsgummadi

Is there any tool that can convert from csv to RIS, without changing the format ?
And also, could you please explain this clearly - "Note that if you delete and recreate, existing documents that refer to these items will have broken references."

emilianoeheyns

There are several tools that do the conversion (Google for "excel to ris", but you'll likely always have to tweak either the input csv or the tool itself. CSV isn't a structured bibliography file format so these tools always have built in assumptions about the input. If you want something that rountrips export-import cleanly, you'll need to use something else than csv.

For the 2nd part - if you have a Word file that uses (references) one of these items from your zotero library, those references will give you errors after you delete them from Zotero. Export-import doesn't augment your existing zotero data, it deletes existing and adds (not replaces) entirely unconnected new ones. Merge rather than delete will keep the references intact, but it's more work.