Where is the zotero menu on a Mac?

I am trying to find how to set or change Preferences. I found this statement in the documentation -

"How do I change Zotero preferences?
The Zotero preferences menu is located in the “Zotero” menu on Mac and in the “File” menu on Windows and Linux."

I do not see any Zotero menu on my Mac. I see the word Zotero in the upper left corner of the screen but when I hover the mouse over it I see nothing and when I click on it, it takes me to the main Zotero.org page.

I see no preferences nor any way to edit preferences. Nor do I see the "Zotero" menu.
Where is the Zotero menu?

  • You're on the website. All documentation refers to the actual Zotero program that you download and run on your computer.

  • I already downloaded the application and installed it on my MacBook Pro.

    That's how I am launching Zotero. But somehow the application is taking me to the website.

    When I do Launch the zotero application the window that appears has no "Zotero" menu on it. I see no way to edit preferences.
    There are 10 icons at the top of the application. From left to right they are
    -- New Collection
    -- New Library
    -- New Item
    -- Add Items by Identifier
    -- New Note
    -- Add Attachment
    -- Advanced Search
    -- Search
    -- Locate
    -- Sync with Zotero.org (at the far right end)

    None of these is a "Zotero" menu and none of them offers any way to edit preferences.

    I did attempt to download the application again using your link. When I ran it, it told me there was already an application on my Mac and did I want to replace it? I said yes to replacement but then it said that it couldn't replace it because the application was running. I closed the app and then tried installing again, same message. So even though the app is NOT running, my MacBook claims that it is or the Zotero installer claims it is running (not sure which).

    This application is not very intuitive and the documentation I find confusing at best.

    Douglas G Larson

  • edited December 2, 2021
    The things that you're saying are unintuitive and confusing in Zotero really don't have anything to do with Zotero. You're just misunderstanding some basic things about how macOS works.

    The menu in question is in the menu bar at the top of your screen. Every single Mac program has an application menu named after the program. In Zotero's case, that's "Zotero". It will appear to the right of the Apple logo menu in the top-left corner of your screen whenever the program is in the foreground.

    What you described doing before was clicking on the Zotero logo in the top-left corner of this page. That's a webpage in your browser and totally unrelated to what we're talking about here.

    You can't replace a running program while it's open. That's just a basic macOS restriction. But there's no need to do so if you actually have the program already. You were just describing the Zotero website, so I assumed you didn't.

    When you "closed" the app, all you did was close the window, not quit it. While there are some exceptions, it's entirely standard for Mac apps to remain open when the last window is closed — in Zotero's case that lets you continue to save to your local Zotero library from the browser even if a Zotero window isn't open. You can reopen the main window by clicking the icon in the Dock. You can quit the program completely from the application (e.g., "Zotero") menu.

    If you're new to the Mac platform, which it sounds like you may be, I'd encourage you to ask someone to walk you through some of these things in person or via screen sharing, since these are all entirely standard Mac behaviors.
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