import from filemaker?

Hi - I'm new to Zotero - looking for a better way of working than the filemaker master biblio I started about 15 years ago (which is cumbersome, over-complex, and doesn't do what I want it to do), and the desktop folder of hundreds, if not thousands of pdfs (which is also cumbersome, over-complex, and doesn't do what I want it to do!).

first question: is there a straghtforward way to import from filemaker? or do I have to write every single item in again???
thanks!
  • I don't think there is, no. There is this old thread https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/7467/filemaker-pro-into-zotero/p1 but the solution seems both pretty involved and pretty fragile.
  • Oh dear. Thanks, I'll check it out.
  • Here is what we did :

    I recommend adding a new field to the FileMaker table with item titles. You will use this single character field (exported Y / N) to keep teack of records that were added to Zotero.

    For all items with a doi we used the Zotero magic wand.
    For books with isbn we used the magic wand.
    For other journal articles and reports we searched Google (standard) first, linked to the publisher, and imported to Zotero. Then as a second search, use Google Scholar but didn't download directly from GS but linked through to the publisher's site and imported metadata from there. By going to the publishers' sites you can also capture the pdf files if you are working at an institution with a subscription. Going to the publisher will almost always give you more accurate and complete metadata than importing from GS. Only if you cannot get metadata directly from the publisher should you import from GS. Records imported from GS should be carefully examined and edited.

    For reports and such, Zotero makes it easy to import pdf files and create "parent" item-records with all the needed metadata.

    I don't know how many records you need to convert FM to Zotero but, as getting things into Zotero is much easier than hand entering records into FM, the conversion shouldn't be too painful.
  • That's a great tip about the y/n! thanks.

    I did not put in doi's or isbns in the FM doc.... sigh. So it sounds as though I'll have to do it all manually. The FM master doc has about 3,000 items. I also have about 1,000 pdfs. Basically, about 20 years work.

    Thanks for your help.
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