Exporting Notes

Larryr

Trying to learn my way around Zotero ...

If I take notes in Zotero, can I export them so I can open the notes in a Word file?

I want to be able to see the notes all at once.

I cannot find anyway to open an RDF file.

jonbean

Amen! I tweaked Endnote so that I used it for notetaking and then exported the equivalent of "note cards" -- each with keywords (tags) grouping the notes.

I'm not leaping to Zotero until I can

a) export to RTF/Word/Oo

b) arrange the appearance of elements in the notes or Reports (if you like). Back in 2007 there was a forum here asking for ability to tweak Reports for this purpose but

1. HTML is not the preferred export format for notes
2. No progress made on allowing us to customize preferences.

It may be open source for the developers but Endnote was more open to customization at the user level.

Don't get me wrong: I'm itching to switch but we "aren't there yet."

dstillman

Don't get me wrong: I'm itching to switch but we "aren't there yet."

Or perhaps you're simply requesting something (exporting notes to RTF) that almost no one has requested in 2.5 years? (I can't really find any other requests for this, but I'll assume there've been one or two.) It's a fine feature request and something that could perhaps be implemented if people showed interest, but for most users it doesn't appear to be the glaring deficiency you make it out to be.

As I said to you on another thread, you can drag notes directly to Word (though in 2.0 Beta the new rich-text notes will still show up as HTML, which needs to be fixed). You didn't respond to suggest that this was in any way inadequate.

Back in 2007 there was a forum here asking for ability to tweak Reports

Feel free to revive a relevant thread with specific suggestions (which might include, say, RTF being a possible report format).

For what it's worth, it sounds like Larryr, who simply requested the ability to "see the notes all at once", might be at least partly satisfied by creating a saved search with "item type" "is" "note" and generating a report from that.

bdarcus

RTF export is completely unnecessary; all of these applications can import HTML.

jonbean

HTML?

Are you kidding? Do most people use MS Office in HTML mode? No? Why not?

Look, leaving aside your snarky comments, I am a researcher and writer. Many people in business -- and all in academia -- are researchers and writers of some sort. There is a reason why Endnote has an export bib in RTF format.

I can recall snarky responses to a much earlier request I made (years ago) for Rich Text in Zotero. "Why would you want such a thing?" "Totally irrelevant." Well, now we have Rich Text and my college students love it.

I use Zotero to grab citations but for notetaking the report function stinks. (Yes, there was a thread by others in 2007 and a promise to develop customization of the Report layout).

The notes -- the most important thing if you took them -- are far down the clunky HTML report.

BTW, dragging notes is not a solution for any one working with many note cards. (My last Endnote database had 5,700 "notecards").

***The most important point, since this is an academic project:

I am a teacher and when students ask for a bunch of citations or notes to a particular topic (keyword in Endnote), I simply select those keywords and export to RTF. As a teacher, I must have done this 500 times. Now, you say, I can somehow hunt through Zotero and drag around the notes? Oy vey.

PS: I did post at another forum but this site is so overwhelmed.

bdarcus

Are you kidding? Do most people use MS Office in HTML mode? No? Why not?

I didn't say anything about "HTML mode"; I just said that these applications can import HTML; just as easily as they can import RTF in fact. Try it.

Look, leaving aside your snarky comments,

Nothing "snarky" about it; just trying to separate out real issues (customizable reports and note export) from the rest (RTF vs. HTML).

I am a researcher and writer. Many people in business -- and all in academia -- are researchers and writers of some sort. There is a reason why Endnote has an export bib in RTF format.

Endnote has an RTF export feature because the application was invented before HTML even existed.

jonbean

"Endnote has an RTF export feature because the application was invented before HTML even existed."

Yes and look how we all work in HTML now. "Hey, Jill, send me that report in HTML."

PDF, Word, yes. HTML?

Now I'm being snarky. This forum has the feel of a Linux group. Fortunately, the developers ignored all the snarling at rich text and put it in 2.0. Perhaps the same will be true on other fronts.

HTML. That's funny.

dstillman

I can recall snarky responses to a much earlier request I made (years ago) for Rich Text in Zotero. "Why would you want such a thing?" "Totally irrelevant."

And where would that be? Please do show us. Considering you created your current account 2.5 months ago, you would have to have been using a different account at the time, and you would have to be referring to a thread that I can't recall, since the main ones from two years ago seem pretty reasonable, with people actively engaged in finding the best solution to a non-trivial problem with broad implications. You seem to be confusing snark with discussion and disagreement.

Now, you say, I can somehow hunt through Zotero and drag around the notes? Oy vey.

Well, I said that you could either do this or you could post to relevant threads (on customizable reports or annotated bibliographies, for example), explain why the current functionality is insufficient for you, and make specific suggestions instead of sarcastic gibes. You might also consider that not everyone has the exact same viewpoint as you and that your feature requests might not be as glaringly obvious and uncontroversial as they seem to you, particularly when you're the first to make them.

This forum has the feel of a Linux group.

I have no idea what this means, but people generally get along pretty well here by being civil, respectful, and responsive. But based on your posts so far, I really have no interest in continuing this discussion.

bdarcus

Fortunately, the developers ignored all the snarling at rich text and put it in 2.0.

Actually, the developers' response to this feature request proves the process here works pretty well. The primary outcome of those discussions was a) that the issues were rather complicated, and b) better to do it right, rather than quickly. They did just that, and the upshot is that most people are happy with the rich text support in notes.

As for your other comments, what Dan said; I suggest you reassess whether your tone here is doing your cause any good.

jonbean

Yes, I used other names and emails in the past.

Back to my RTF/.doc world. . .

bdarcus

If you're a scholar, you ought to be a little more careful about attribution and quotation and such. By "other names," I take it you mean "jjb"? And are you referring to this previous conversation? If yes, then you're wildly misquoting and mischaracterizing Rick in this thread.

jonbean

That thread just loops me back to "use HTML." We've gone over that track.

Bye!

bdarcus

Not so much for jonbean, but for the record:

In that post, he asked about sharing references and notes among a class of students. A great way to do this now (and I may experiment with this myself this coming term) is to use the new group and sharing functionality in Zotero 2.0. So no files at all, HTML or otherwise.

sean

Jon-

"That thread" suggests using HTML because it predates the implementation of rich text in Zotero notes. As Bruce suggests, many of us here are scholars and instructors, including not a few of "the developers" who you claim "ignored all the snarling" to add that function.

I see that you are teaching or have taught courses on digital history, a field which is at the heart of all projects based at the Center for History and New Media. I would hope that you would reconsider looking beyond your "RTF/.doc world."

When students ask me for references or notes on a topic, I now point them to a Zotero group collection. In the very near future, you'll also be able to generate a feed based on one or more tags, which would accomplish much the same thing as your keyword-based model.
Update: Agreed with bdarcus. Looking forward to a big fall semester for Zotero