Import .csv in the format generated by export .csv

PChemist

Importing .csv is a long standing topic. True that csv is not a standard biblio format. But, why can't Zotero import a .csv that was previously generated by its export function?

I have a load of data in spreadsheets that I would like to get into Zotero. The idea is that I export 1-2 items in csv; than I can use that .csv as a template and fill it with my data (this is mostly a straightforward task in Excel, where I can use various spreadsheet text formulas to massage my source data), and import it back into Zotero. This also applies to "Notes".

N.B. Part of the data I am talking about is not bibliographic. Basically, Zotero has awesome functionality in terms of both data structuring and retrieval. There are probably some other programs with similarly rich data structuring capabilities, but I could not find anything comparable in terms of data retrieval, which is equally important. There are also some aspects, which could be improved, but I figured some workarounds to deal with those. For this reason I would like to use Zotero for managing not only my bibliographic data, but also my "vendors" database, as well as some other collections. It would be great if Zotero had some more flexibility to deal with custom data sets, but even in its current state I can use, except that this .csv import feature of the Zotero generated template would be really helpful.

adamsmith

There may be other reasons, but a significant reason is that it would be incredibly fragile and fragile in possibly dangerous ways -- e.g. it could systematically import some of the data wrong without a clear indication. It would also with a pretty high likelihood entail a massive amount of incredibly tedious troubleshooting. I very much doubt it's going to happen.

If someone wants to code a custom import translator that could be distributed quite separately by them either as a .js file (that can be simply added to Zotero) or even as an extension, but that would make very clear that it's not part of Zotero and Zotero wouldn't be responsible for any problems with it or caused by it.

emilianoeheyns

One other reason I could think of that zotero items aren't cleanly representable in a simple table - multiple creators, multiple tags, multiple relations are all joined into a single cell in a way that makes sense to humans but isn't unambiguously parsable back.

takan.bhatt

I have exported data from zotero to csv and got and "exported file", Now, I tried to import same file in Zotero. This is something strange.

dstillman

@takan.bhatt: It's not strange at all — as explained above, CSV isn't a real bibliographic format. The export is just a way to get data out in a format that can be used in Excel or similar. If you want to transfer some items between Zotero installations via export, use Zotero RDF.

If you're trying transfer your library to another computer, don't use export at all — see Transferring a Library.

takan.bhatt

But there should be a facility. When we are talking about DATA Science, "BIG DATA" & ANALYTICS, there is no tool available for bibliometric analysis (not even in R) for local data. When we are analyzing citations, it is observed that researchers did lots of mistakes in citations. We have to correct that data and make it clean. After cleaning these data in EXCEL it needs to again convert into BIB / RIS format for VSOViewer or similar app.

bwiernik

You should not clean bibliographic data in Excel. Either clean it in Zotero itself or use the Zotero API (eg, you can access the Zotero API in R using https://github.com/giocomai/zoteror).

takan.bhatt

Mr bwiernik I agree with you. However, I suggest designing for editing record in Zotero. first of all, there should be a sorting and filtering facility so that handling BIG-Data it would be easier. I am not a Coding guy but at hope my suggestion might be acceptable.