BibTeX Export with Path of (PDF) files

joeran

Hello,

I am one of the developers of the academic literature suite Docear (formerly SciPlore MindMapping). Many of our users use both Docear and Zotero but they miss an option to export Zotero’s libraries to BibTeX with links to the PDFs included.

I know, there has been quite a bit of discussion about this topic already but although someone has programmed the function already, the code has not made its way to the official Zotero releases.

Therefore, I would like to ask if there are any plans to improve the BibTeX export in the near future so the paths of PDFs are exported, too? I am sure this would not only be helpful for Docear users but for users of many other reference managers too (e.g. JabRef).

Best regards,
Joeran

zhaohua_lu

I really wish this feature is to be included in Zotero.

Thanks!!

virtualidstudios

Have you checked out this Bibtex Translator customization posted on google groups?

I haven't had time to try and implement it.

Another way is to import via Zotero RDF. That format will export all data, subcollections, filepaths, etc.

My big question, is how do I import bibliographic information, such as an rdf or bibtex file into Docear? I could only figure out how to import files, but to me, the bibliographic information is more important, even if the files aren't attached.

(Granted, I'm new to the program, but the documentation is a bit thin and I couldn't find it.)

Thanks!

- If the edits above for the zotero bibtex export don't work, I can always write a script to convert the zotero rdf format to bibtex.

joeran

Hello virtualidstudios,

I think it would be better to discuss this in the support forum of Docear http://sourceforge.net/apps/phpbb/docear/

(the quick answer is: export BibTeX file from Zotero and in Docear set the Path of the Reference file to this BibTeX file)

Best,
Joeran

germancito

I would also like this feature to be implemented, thanks

uvesco

me too thanks

epimachos

I would also appreciate if what Joeran says could be implemented.
Zotero is really great and would be greater if it could cooperate with Docear.

virtualidstudios

There's plenty of excellent documentation and drafts floating around if one of the Docear developers was motivated enough to get the bibtex export to include the filepaths. But then again, I'm sure they're plenty busy working on the mindmapping software as is.

I could make it happen, but unfortunately it's not a personal need at the moment, I'm swamped with other work, and I'm in the red. I'm also not a regular zotero developer, so it would take me a bit longer than some. However, if someone would like to motivate me by helping me get out of the red, I would happily take a bribe and make it happen. I know, not cool in an open source environment, but thought I'd toss it out there anyway.

I'd either get zotero to properly export the data, but if I wasn't successful, I would write a script to convert the zotero RDF format to Bibtex with the file paths as well as the data for how the sub-collections are nested. I don't believe the bibtex export includes that at the moment, which to me is incredibly important.

Actually, writing the script I could make it far more flexible with multiple other options too.

rcamazed

I'd also like complete BibTeX support for Zotero so that it will work in conjunction with Docear...including links to my .pdf's.

Thanks.

Simon

If someone wants to submit a pull request on GitHub to add this, we'd take it. The patch above didn't get merged because it changed a lot of other functionality in ways our contributors found undesirable, and no one made an effort to split out the independent issues into separate patches.

spartanroc

see my solution at
http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/17847/improving-bibtex-export/

It is just updated for zotero 3.0.3.

joeran

hi spartanroc, I tried your solution but it did not work for me. So, I still hope the Zotero team will implement and integrate a robust solution into their official release.

spartanroc

what did not work? how did you follow the instructions and the tips in the discussions? nobody can help you if you don't provide details.

joeran

hi spartanoc, sorry for my poor error description. now that i wanted to describe exactly what I did, I realized my mistake - I copied two of your files to the wrong directory.

It works now! Thank you very much! As it seems (and is discussed in the other forum post http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/17847/2/improving-bibtex-export/ ) there are some difficulties with JabRef reading the path of the exported BibTeX file but I'll have a look at it and maybe we can adjust JabRef/Docear accordingly.

Still, I would like to request that the Zotero team integrates the new functionality in their official release :-)

adamsmith

Still, I would like to request that the Zotero team integrates the new functionality in their official release :-)

see Simon above:

If someone wants to submit a pull request on GitHub to add this, we'd take it. The patch above didn't get merged because it changed a lot of other functionality in ways our contributors found undesirable, and no one made an effort to split out the independent issues into separate patches.

Simon

This functionality is available in Zotero 3.0.4+.