import my library

Pilarica317

Hi everyone!!

I'm new user of zotero an I have a big question.... all the pdfs that I had downloaded before install zotero, can be added to the library?? or I have to download each one again?

I'm writing an article and I want to do with zotero the citations and list of references but all the articles in pdf that I used are stored in my mac.... I'm a little lost :/

Help me please! Thanks

aurimas

all the articles in pdf that I used are stored in my mac

What do you mean stored on your mac? Have you used another citation manager before?

If no, then...
Drag and drop your PDFs into Zotero. Then select however many you want (you can select all), right-click -> Retrieve Metadata. If you can't retrieve metadata for some, right-click -> Create Parent Item and fill in the metadata manually (you can also find the articles online and use the URL bar icon to import metadata, then drag-drop the PDF onto the item to attach it).

Pilarica317

Thanks, I mean that I have a lot of papers that I had downloaded from journals websites long time ago without other citation manager.

I try to follow your instructions but when I see the files in the zotero application don't show any info of each paper, I don't know if you can understand my doubts.... I can't find the option of metadata

aurimas

You don't see an option to "Retrieve Metadata" when you right-click a PDF in Zotero?

Edit: What language is your Zotero in?

Pilarica317

Ohh now I understand your instructions!!!! So great, thanks a lot :)

I have spent many hours in tutorials without success :/

Thanks!!

Pilarica317

I'm using a spanish version

aurimas

OK. I was just asking so I could tell you exactly what the feature is called, but looks like you found it yourself.

Pilarica317

Onde doubt: The option create Parent Item in spanish is: crear item contenedor a partir del seleccionado?

aurimas

Correct

Pilarica317

Sorry, now I have doubts with the use of this last instruction: create a parent item... how it works?

aurimas

In order to add metadata to a PDF (you need metadata to be able to cite a reference), you need to attach it to a Zotero item. When you "Retrieve Metadata", Zotero tries to find metadata online and attach the PDF to it. If it cannot find metadata online, you need to do it manually. One way to do this is to right-click a PDF and select "Create Parent Item". You should just try it and see how it works.

Pilarica317

But to complete data from pdfs that metadata weren't find, we can use de url or doi of the paper or only manually add the info?

aurimas

If you have a DOI, you can use Add Item by Identifier feature to import metadata into Zotero.

If you can find the article online, you can usually use the URL bar icon to import metadata (and usually PDF as well) into Zotero.

Once you have metadata imported, you can drag your existing PDF onto the metadata to attach it.