folder with all pdf used in references

TanjaRa

I need to create a folder with all the literature I used in my thesis as pdfs and copy it in a cd.
In the Zotero storage folder all pdfs are stored in separate folders

1) is there a possibility to have them all in one folder?
2) and can I create separate folders for the literature I actually used as a reference in my thesis (word-add in) and the ones I saved in Zotero but did not use as references?

I would be very greatful for help!

dstillman

Virtual document collections are planned, but in the meantime, if you don't have all the items you used in a collection already, you can use https://rintze.zelle.me/ref-extractor/ to select them in Zotero and then create a collection from there.

After that, to get all those PDFs into a filesystem folder, you have a couple options:

1) Export that collection to Zotero RDF with files, do a search in your OS for all PDFs within the export folder, and then copy those PDFs to a new folder.

2) Select all PDFs within the collection in Zotero — either manually or by using a search — and drag those to a filesystem folder. For a search, you can just search for "PDF" in the quick search bar in All Fields & Tags mode, click an item and press Select All (Ctrl-A/Cmd-A), and then make any manual adjustments to the selection with Ctrl or Cmd so that only the child PDFs are selected.

TanjaRa

Thank you!

I already have all the pdfs.

So there is no option to have Zotero create a subfolder with just the references I used in my word document? I have more than two hundred references saved in my Zotero project but in the end only used around 120 of them. is there a way to not have to select the used ones manually?

adamsmith

See the first paragraph above. You can use the ref extractor tools to do that.