Dragging a pdf into Zotero, is it possible?

emorales

Hey everyone, Happy Friday. The magic of finding a paper in Web of Knowledge is kind of fading away. Several journals do not download into Zotero the pdf file but only the bibliographic reference. So I have to do an intermediate step which is to save the pdf file in my desktop and then drag it into Zotero. With so many articles I have to research the job gets annoying. Any one figure out a shortcut to the issue?

dstillman

You can drag PDF links directly into Zotero, either on top of existing items (which you'd want to do in this case) or as standalone attachments (on which you can then run Retrieve Metadata for PDF from the context menu). If it's not a direct link, it won't work, but that's the fault of the site.

emorales

Thanks Dan. Would you mind telling me how to drag the pdf into my Zotero item then? In other words, once the pdf is open, then what?

dstillman

Either drag the link itself or drag the favicon (the icon to the left of the address bar) onto the Zotero item.

emorales

Dan. When dragging the link (or icon) it does not bring the pdf into the Zotero item it just reproduces what Zotero does when you click on the Item icon right on the left of the Favorite Icon. Maybe I am not being clear on the issue. Some journal you have to do an extra click to see the pdf. My question is, once the pdf is open how can you quickly add it to an existing item in my Zotero middle pane?

adamsmith

You need to mention when you're not using then standard version of Zotero - if you just ask a question, we'll assume you're using Zotero for Firefox.
That's not the case, is it? This is Safari you're using with Zotero Standalone?

dstillman

it just reproduces what Zotero does when you click on the Item icon right on the left of the Favorite Icon.

I don't know what you mean here—you can take a screenshot and post it to a free file-sharing site (e.g., imageshack.us) if you want—but as an example, go to http://www.irs.gov/app/picklist/list/formsInstructions.html?value=w-4&criteria=formNumber and drag Form W-4 directly on top of a Zotero item. Zotero will save the PDF as a child attachment titled "fw4.pdf".

And while, yes, you do need to specify what version of Zotero you're using, this should work in the same with Zotero Standalone.

If that's not what's happening on your journal site, it's not a direct PDF link.

emorales

My apologies Dan, you are correct I have should mention my system. Windows 7, Firefox.

adamsmith

If you are in FF, you can also use right click on the item you want to attach to while having the PDF open in FF
Add Attachment --> Add snapshot of current page.

emorales

Dan, I got it. Your IRS example, simply hilarious. Thank you!

adamsmith

The IRS form is the first one that come up when you google .pdf (at least in the US it is) ;-).