Upgrade StoragePlease Bring Back the Classic Add Citation Dialog in Zotero 9
I've been a long-time Zotero user and recently upgraded to Zotero 9. While I appreciate many of the new features, I'm really struggling with the new inline citation search bar in the word processor plugin.
The classic Add Citation dialog in Zotero 7 was far more usable for my workflow. It allowed me to:
Browse my entire library with the full collection tree visible
See all item metadata (authors, year, title, publication) at a glance in a sortable list
Navigate through my organized collections to locate specific references
More importantly, the classic dialog was essential when citing multiple sources at once. It gave me a clear overview of all selected references, making it easy to add or remove items from the citation cluster. It also let me control author suppression (omitting author names) on a per-item basis with a simple checkbox — a critical feature for proper academic writing that is now buried and difficult to manage in the new interface.
The new search-only interface forces me to remember exact titles or author names, which is simply not practical when working with hundreds or thousands of references. I often know where a reference is, but not its exact wording.
I'm not asking for the new interface to be removed — just that the classic dialog be restored as an opt-in option, like the old "Use classic Add Citation dialog" checkbox in Preferences. Having that choice back would make a huge difference for many users who rely on these features daily.
Thank you for your continued work on Zotero — it's an essential tool for my research.
The classic Add Citation dialog in Zotero 7 was far more usable for my workflow. It allowed me to:
Browse my entire library with the full collection tree visible
See all item metadata (authors, year, title, publication) at a glance in a sortable list
Navigate through my organized collections to locate specific references
More importantly, the classic dialog was essential when citing multiple sources at once. It gave me a clear overview of all selected references, making it easy to add or remove items from the citation cluster. It also let me control author suppression (omitting author names) on a per-item basis with a simple checkbox — a critical feature for proper academic writing that is now buried and difficult to manage in the new interface.
The new search-only interface forces me to remember exact titles or author names, which is simply not practical when working with hundreds or thousands of references. I often know where a reference is, but not its exact wording.
I'm not asking for the new interface to be removed — just that the classic dialog be restored as an opt-in option, like the old "Use classic Add Citation dialog" checkbox in Preferences. Having that choice back would make a huge difference for many users who rely on these features daily.
Thank you for your continued work on Zotero — it's an essential tool for my research.
I've now read the official documentation, and it confirms exactly what I was saying — the classic citation dialog has been permanently removed. As the page states: "The classic dialog has been removed and won't be returning." So no, this isn't a matter of me not finding the Library mode. I have found it. I've tried it. And it simply doesn't work as well for my workflow.
I've been using Zotero since version 7 and below, and the classic dialog has been a core part of how I cite references for years. The new Library mode, while I understand it's meant to replace the classic dialog, is not the same experience — and I don't find it as intuitive or efficient. I shouldn't have to completely relearn a workflow that was already working perfectly.
My request remains the same: please give users the option to use the classic dialog. I don't need the new features. I just want the interface that has served me well for years.
That said, I do think the transition could be smoother. For users like me who've relied on the classic dialog for years, some aspects of the new workflow still feel less intuitive — particularly around managing multiple citations and suppressing authors. I hope the team will continue to refine these areas based on user feedback.
Appreciate the help from this community.
For omit author in multi-citations, in the classic dialog you needed to click on the citation in question and then on the omit author checkbox. That's the exact same amount of clicks right now, with a shorter path for the mouse (in addition to much fast keyboard accessibility if that's your thing).
Not sure what you mean by managing multiple citations, but the ability to just hit return when selecting multiple items from the library (rather than fiddle with the tiny arrows in the classic dialog) is a huge improvement for me, as is the ability to reorder by drag & drop rather then awkward up/down arrows.
Certainly possible that there are real pain points for you that are either genuinely less comfortable, but you'd need to articulate those more clearly for anyone to be able to help with those.