Import references with custom tags

rsprabha

Is there a way to import references with a set of tags from a spreadsheet that we have created?

dstillman

Could you explain further what you mean here? Exactly what format are the references in? A spreadsheet isn't a bibliographic format.

rsprabha

We have created references in a spreadsheet along with some custom tags and now would like to import them into Zotero.

dstillman

Again, though, what format? Do you mean plain-text references in a particular citation style? Metadata fields (title, author, year) in separate columns of the spreadsheet?

rsprabha

All in one table. We had created over 5000 the references on aspread sheet in teh following format and now would like to use one of the systems...

Here is one record transposed....
And we need the last three columns.

Filename Aberlenc_et_al_2007_BullMensSocLinn
Category Journal publication
Author_1 Aberlenc, H.-P.
Co_authors Andriamampianina, L., Faure, E., Lees, D. C., Minet, J., Ollivier, L., Rafamantanantsoa, C., Randrianandrasana, M. & Razafindrakotomamonjy, A.
Date_publication 2007
Title Le radeau des cimes au Parc National de Masoala (Madagascar). Première partie : Eléments pour un inventaire des lépidoptères
Journal Bulletins Mensuels - Société Linnéenne de Lyon
University
Type
Editor(s)
Title_source_book
Publisher, City
Volume 76(6)
Pagination pp. 141-154
Protected_areas_cited
Not_Protected _areas_cited
Theme Canopy raft, early stages, invertebrates, Lepidoptera, Sphingidae

dstillman

OK, so separate columns — that's what we needed to know.

To do this, you would need to export some items from Zotero in CSV format, adjust your data to match that format, and then import it into Zotero. But it would take some work. This is quite a non-standard workflow, so there's nothing easier.

rsprabha

Thanks.
I will try this out.
But is there a method to import those custom tages that we have created?

dstillman

Create some tags in the sample items in Zotero and look for them in the CSV export.

rsprabha

And where is the simple csv export? I see many asking if there is a JSON export of all the data. Is there something?

dstillman

Create some sample items in Zotero, select them, right-click → "Export Items…", and choose CSV as the export format.

rsprabha

Interesting...
The web version does not have an export csv option.
The desktop version seems to have one.

rsprabha

Export as CSV from desktop looks complete and good. Is there a corresponding CSV import?

dstillman

That's my point — that's the format. You have to make your data look like that if you want it to import.

The web version does not have an export csv option.
The desktop version seems to have one.

We can fix that, but note that, unless someone refers to the "web library" specifically, we're always going to be talking about the desktop app (a.k.a. "Zotero"). The web library is just a way to access your library when you're not able to use the desktop app.

rsprabha

Sorry and thanks.
So, two questions please:
1. If we prepare the csv exactly in the exported csv format, can we import it into Zotero?
2. We actually need three custom fields. Is there a way in Zotero where you can add custom fields?

adamsmith

@dstillman -- I don't think that's right. At least currently, the CSV translator is export only and I thought that was on purpose to avoid confusion about what "CSV" import entails.

dstillman

Oh, you're right. Sorry, @rsprabha, I was assuming we had made this symmetrical, but that's not the case. And it's probably the right decision — this isn't any sort of standardized format, there's no guarantee that it will be stable, and having to export sample data to figure out the current expected structure is clumsy and error-prone. And as adamsmith says, we don't want people to think that they can somehow just import any CSV file.

So then, your best option would be to write some code to convert your data into a supported import format.

We actually need three custom fields. Is there a way in Zotero where you can add custom fields?

Custom fields may happen in the future, but for now the standard approach is just to add custom fields to the Extra field in "Key: Value" format.

rsprabha

Thanks @dstillman for your suggestions and thanks @adamsmith for your inputs. So we will try and convert the 5000 reference reference records that we have into one of the supported fortmats.

Do you have one supported format that you could suggest as comprehensive and good? Do you think Zotero RDF would be best? Do you know if any of the other fortas have a utility to convert from a CVS?

dstillman

Definitely not anything RDF. RIS, although badly specified, is probably the easiest to work with.

rsprabha

So are you suggesing we try Zotero RDF and RIS and pick one of them? Would they import all fields, including the Extra field in "Key Value" pairs?

dstillman

No, I said not to use RDF.

adamsmith

Bibtex or biblatex might also be good options, especially because they don't rely on linebreaks the same way RIS does.
What you'd do is to concatenate every row in the CSV into a single bibtex item - you could script that, but Excel would likely actually work nicely. You could include the key-value pairs for extra (which I think is imported from bibtex note or annote(?) but you'd have to test) into how you concatenate these.
This definitely will involve some amount of trial and error and some fiddling, so start with a sample of 25 items or so to test things out quickly.

rsprabha

There are three RDFs listed as supported from the list that you had linked.

Zotero RDF
Bibliontology RDF
Unqualified Dublin Core RDF

Which one?

The way I will do it is get a sample references with our put in manually. Export the data in the chosen format. Write a script to prepare the data in the formet. Import the data into Zotero.

adamsmith

Let me re-iterate what dstillman has said (twice now) -- unless you're a seasoned XML/RDF expert with very, very strong related scripting abilities, you really don't want to try to convert CSV to Zotero RDF. Like -- I have worked on the Zotero RDF import and I wouldn't try to do this.
But if you're dead set on using RDF, you'd want to use Zotero RDF.

rsprabha

Sorry, I misunderstood the RDF message from @dstillman
I will try the advice siggested:
"Bibtex or biblatex might also be good options, especially because they don't rely on linebreaks the same way RIS does."

Thanks