Scrivener and Zotero - Advice for a Newby
Dear Zotero
Scrivener has been recommended to me recently by a few academics. But it's new to me. Zotero I've been using for a few years and it's as staple to me as oxygen..
I am tempted to buy Scrivener - the functionality seems very good. But - only if there are plans for compatibility with Zotero. I have read all the forums here and it doesn't seem straightforward currently. I've also watched the YouTube videos about scrivener and Zotero. I honestly can't see myself using the workarounds. Too fiddly.
Also I'd be working for my first project with existing word documents, moved to Scrivener - with Zotero citations. And I don't see any advice on this.
Can anyone out there tell me if it's a huge faff or if one does eventually get used to the workarounds. Or even better - that there is a plug-in in the works..
Thanks!
EP
Scrivener has been recommended to me recently by a few academics. But it's new to me. Zotero I've been using for a few years and it's as staple to me as oxygen..
I am tempted to buy Scrivener - the functionality seems very good. But - only if there are plans for compatibility with Zotero. I have read all the forums here and it doesn't seem straightforward currently. I've also watched the YouTube videos about scrivener and Zotero. I honestly can't see myself using the workarounds. Too fiddly.
Also I'd be working for my first project with existing word documents, moved to Scrivener - with Zotero citations. And I don't see any advice on this.
Can anyone out there tell me if it's a huge faff or if one does eventually get used to the workarounds. Or even better - that there is a plug-in in the works..
Thanks!
EP
Best!
"20.4 Bibliography Management
Scrivener offers simple integration with your favourite bibliography or citation
manager (such as EndNote, Bookends, Sente or Zotero) for academic work. To
set it up:
1. Open the General: Citations preference pane (subsection B.2.8).
2. Click on the Choose… button and use the file chooser to locate the application
you use for citation management.
Once the citation manager has been set up, you can use the Insert
▸ Bibliography/Citations… menu command (⌘Y) at any time, to bring
your chosen software to the front, launching it automatically if necessary."
This sounds promising, but then it continues,
"The steps you take next will depend upon your citation manager, so you will
need to consult their documentation on how to use their software with third-party
word processors. Typically, you would copy and paste a citation placeholder
into Scrivener, in the location where the reference mark should appear.
After compiling to rtf, you would then use the citation manager to scan these
placeholders into final print form. Not every program or service provides rtf
scanning, however. You should research the software you intend to use and
make certain it designed to work with software other than Microsoft Word."
What does this mean? Why do they state Scrivener integrates with Zotero? Thanks!
For MacOS, there's https://github.com/davepwsmith/zotpick-applescript, which makes it a tad less painful, but Scrivener really doesn't have any good options for integration. It's not something that can be fixed at the Zotero end.
ODF scan solution doesn't work fine for non-English authors and titles.
For Korean users like me, placeholder way or something not involved with languages will be a better solution, I think.
The zotpick solution is a complement to what @adamsmith describes -- I forgot to mention that. Zotpick offers an easy way to get the markers into your document, but you'd still have to use either pandoc or ODF scan to get the final document.
Scan function doesn't work in default RTF-scan.
However, odf-scan-plugin works normally for Korean documents.
Thanks.
Short of an explanation of all of that, I am just wondering if it is ultimately simple enough to do, or in other words, do the benefits of Scrivener justify needing to endure this process in people's opinions? Thanks!
https://zotero-odf-scan.github.io/zotero-odf-scan/
Basically, install the ODF Scan Plugin. Then, insert placeholder citations into Scrivener from Zotero (e.g., by setting your default export format to Scannable Cite and dragging from Zotero or using the zotpick tool Emiliano mentions). When you are done writing, Export from Scrivener as “ODT”. Then, in Zotero, click Tools -> RTF Scan -> ODF Scan and select your document to have Zotero convert the placeholders to live Zotero citations. Open the document in LibreOffice to finish formatting.
It’s not a very complicated process overall, so if you find Scrivener’s features useful, working with Zotero isn’t that difficult.
The steps are:
(1) In Scrivener, insert a citation in the body of a text document, using the one of the supplied formats, e.g. {Anderson, 2016} . Note that you should insert the citation in the body of the document, and not in a Scrivener-style footnote.
(2) In Scrivener, insert {Bibliography} in the body of a text document, in the spot where you would like the Bibliography to appear (assuming you want the references at the end)
(3) In Scrivener, compile the document, using RTF as the output format
(4) In Zotero, go to Tools > RTF Scan. Zotero will prompt you to select input and output files. Select the RTF file that you created in the previous step. You can also select an output file, or you can accept the default file created by Zotero. Click Next.
(5) Zotero will display a table and ask you to confirm any ambiguous references. (I'm not sure why it always does this; at least for me, the references should not be ambiguous.) Ensure that every Citation listed in the table has a corresponding Item Name. i.e. if the "Item Name" field is blank, you must select a Citation. Once you have done this, click Next.
(6) Zotero will prompt you to select a citation style, e.g. MLA or APA. Select a style and click Next.
(7) Zotero will confirm that your document has been scanned. Open the document and confirm that the formatting is correct.
That's it!
This is exactly what I was looking for, being a real newbie in both Scrivener and Zotero.
Best
LobeFendu