Citation key in new items set to "zotero-item"

blogfar
Hi,

I am using Better BibTeX for Citation Key creation which I then use in Zettlr for my writing. However, I have recently noticed, that when I create a new item in Zotero, the citaiton key doesn't look like the BBT citation key which I am used to, but always has a form of "zotero-item" followed by a number. From what I understand after some googling, Zotero quite recently got their own citation key generator, is that so?

I checked the settings and the settings for BBT plugin seem okay, but for some reason the "zotero-item" format is forced onto any newly created item. Are there any settings for the way Zotero generates the citaiton key, or maybe for turning it off? Couldn't find any.

The solution to the issue is however simple, I can still right click the item and go Better BibTeX -> Regenerate Better BibTeX key and it works. However, I think it would be easier for my workflow and the flow of my mind not to having to do this every single time I add something new to the library.

Thanks!
  • adamsmith
    Zotero quite recently got their own citation key generator, is that so?
    No. Zotero added the Citation Key field, it's not auto-generating citation keys; if that happens, it's almost certainly a third-party app. It could be BBT malfunctioning, though this doesn't sound like BBT. Any other extensions you can try disabling? Does this happen regardless of where you're importing from? I think BBT can preserve citekeys on _import_ and if you somehow import Bibtex with a default zotero-item citekey, that could be another reason.
  • blogfar
    Hi,

    thank you for your clarification. I realised that not all items, that I recently imported into my library have this form of citation key - only those created manually in Zotero. Tried importing a Taylor & Francis article using the browser "Save to Zotero" plugin and the citation key is alright.

    The only other extension I am using is ZotMoov. However, I have used this combination for a long time and never had any problems.

    I don't use the manual creation of items that much, but just for the information - the oldest item I have in my library with "zotero-item" style citation key comes from March 2026.

  • adamsmith
    You'd want to reproduce this with all plugins disabled for testing, both to exclude them as a possible cause and to have precise steps to reproduce. Zotero definitely does not generally generate any citation key -- zotero-item or otherwise -- for manually created items (there's always a small chance there's a genuine bug; hence steps to reproduce).
  • blogfar
    Funny. If I turn off Zotmoov, it still does that. If I turn of both - Better BibTeX and Zotmoov - it logically doesn't create the citation key. However, once I turn BBT back on, it creates the RIGHT form of the citation key.

    From this I deduce, it is actually a BBT problem with manual creation of items. Will open an issue at their Github.
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