Upgrade StorageiOS - How to create an importable reference from iOS using Shortcuts
Until recently I was really annoyed about the challenge of creating a Zotero reference on my iPad.
So, I tried to use Shortcuts to do the job... AND finally was able to achieve an acceptable result.
Since many of my cues came from other contributors from this forum, I thought it would be fair to share what I’ve learned in the process of doing this.
But first, the prerequisite:
- Identify the RIS Tags you need to be enabled to create a reference.
- Familiarize yourself with the Shortcuts app.
- Duplicate one of them to start playing with it.
In the Shortcuts app on the iPad, I use the following steps (I hope the translation is accurate, because my iOS is in French)
- NETWORK —> Gather the headlines from the Shortcuts’ input
- SAFARI —> Gather the article from the Shortcuts’ input
- DOCUMENTS —> Convert article in Rich Text Format
- TEXT —> Map the RIS Tags with the information you gather (I’ll provide a sample below)
- DOCUMENTS —> Save TEXT on the selected services.
That’s mostly what it took.
I chose to create a RIS document because it was mostly simple and easy to use IMO.
Here’s a sample of the reference I created :
TY - ELEC
TI - SAFARI-Title
AU - SAFARI-Author
AB - WEB-Abstract
DA - WEB-Publication date
UR - SAFARI-URL
Y2 - Today’s Date
KW - reference-from-ipad
N1 - DOCUMENT-Rich Text
ER -
You’ll find below the description of the Tags used above. I added some Tags that might be useful as well:
TY - ELEC —> Type of reference (must be the first tag). Other popular types are BOOK (Whole book), BLOG (Blog), ELEC (Web Page), JOUR (Journal), MGZN (Magazine article), NEWS (Newspaper), RPRT (Report), THES (Thesis/Dissertation)
TI - —> Primary Title
AU - —> Primary Authors (each author on its own line preceded by the A1 tag)
T2 - —> Secondary Title (journal title, if applicable)
AB - —> Abstract.
DA - —> Date (select the following format : yyyy/mmm/dd/ )
PY - —> Publication year (yyyy)
LA - —> Language
M3 - —> Type of Work
ST - —> Short Title
UR - —> URL
Y2 - —> Access Date (select the following format : yyyy/mmm/dd/ )
SP - —> Start Page
KW - —> Keywords (keywords should be entered each on its own line preceded by the tag)
N1 - —> Notes. I use this area to gather all the text from the article.
ER - —> End of Reference (must be empty and the last tag)
And "Voilà!"
Now, you only need to rename the document to replace the .txt extension with .ris . It will now be ready to be imported in Zotero.
I can provide some screenshots, but they are in French. So, not sure if it will really help.
If you need more details let me know, or if you have some suggestion to provide clearer instruction as well.
I hope it will help someone!
So, I tried to use Shortcuts to do the job... AND finally was able to achieve an acceptable result.
Since many of my cues came from other contributors from this forum, I thought it would be fair to share what I’ve learned in the process of doing this.
But first, the prerequisite:
- Identify the RIS Tags you need to be enabled to create a reference.
- Familiarize yourself with the Shortcuts app.
- Duplicate one of them to start playing with it.
In the Shortcuts app on the iPad, I use the following steps (I hope the translation is accurate, because my iOS is in French)
- NETWORK —> Gather the headlines from the Shortcuts’ input
- SAFARI —> Gather the article from the Shortcuts’ input
- DOCUMENTS —> Convert article in Rich Text Format
- TEXT —> Map the RIS Tags with the information you gather (I’ll provide a sample below)
- DOCUMENTS —> Save TEXT on the selected services.
That’s mostly what it took.
I chose to create a RIS document because it was mostly simple and easy to use IMO.
Here’s a sample of the reference I created :
TY - ELEC
TI - SAFARI-Title
AU - SAFARI-Author
AB - WEB-Abstract
DA - WEB-Publication date
UR - SAFARI-URL
Y2 - Today’s Date
KW - reference-from-ipad
N1 - DOCUMENT-Rich Text
ER -
You’ll find below the description of the Tags used above. I added some Tags that might be useful as well:
TY - ELEC —> Type of reference (must be the first tag). Other popular types are BOOK (Whole book), BLOG (Blog), ELEC (Web Page), JOUR (Journal), MGZN (Magazine article), NEWS (Newspaper), RPRT (Report), THES (Thesis/Dissertation)
TI - —> Primary Title
AU - —> Primary Authors (each author on its own line preceded by the A1 tag)
T2 - —> Secondary Title (journal title, if applicable)
AB - —> Abstract.
DA - —> Date (select the following format : yyyy/mmm/dd/ )
PY - —> Publication year (yyyy)
LA - —> Language
M3 - —> Type of Work
ST - —> Short Title
UR - —> URL
Y2 - —> Access Date (select the following format : yyyy/mmm/dd/ )
SP - —> Start Page
KW - —> Keywords (keywords should be entered each on its own line preceded by the tag)
N1 - —> Notes. I use this area to gather all the text from the article.
ER - —> End of Reference (must be empty and the last tag)
And "Voilà!"
Now, you only need to rename the document to replace the .txt extension with .ris . It will now be ready to be imported in Zotero.
I can provide some screenshots, but they are in French. So, not sure if it will really help.
If you need more details let me know, or if you have some suggestion to provide clearer instruction as well.
I hope it will help someone!