Using Zotero to author a book with separate chapter files

JDRaskin

I am writing a book using Zotero as my reference manager. When done, I want a single reference list that includes references from all chapters. I am able to do this by creating collections using the Reference Extractor (https://rintze.zelle.me/ref-extractor/) and then combining them into a single collection. However, this doesn’t address the issue of how citations will appear in each chapter. I am using APA Style, and it includes first initials for citations whose authors have the same last name. But how do I ensure this happens across chapters when some citations with same author last names only appear in separate chapter files? Only thing I can think to do is maintain a file with all citations from the entire book and paste it into each chapter when done writing so Zotero knows which citations require first initials. However, this seems onerous. Is there an easier way to get all citations from the entire book that need them to include first initials? Thanks!

bwiernik

Once you have finished writing, you can combine the chapters together in one file, then add the bibliography

JDRaskin

Thanks. I have considered this, but that will result in an enormous file of over 1500 pages. Will Word and Zotero be able to handle that? (I use a Mac, in case that matters.)

bwiernik

That long will probably take a while with many citations. But Zotero should be able to work, but Word for Mac is probably going to slow to a crawl and/or crash.

Personally, I would just ignore the APA disambiguation rule. It is often ignored, even in APA books and journals. You can use this style for that https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bwiernik/zotero-tools/master/apa-short-authors.csl

bwiernik

Doing the final citation format on a windows computer might be helpful

adamsmith

Depending on the citations, you'd still have year suffix (Smith 2015a, 2015b) disambiguation, which you can't & shouldn't ignore, so I do think you need the full document.
Otherwise I'd second bwiernik's advice: try to locate a fast Windows machine for the final compilation.

JDRaskin

Thanks, I probably can arrange Windows access. I assume I'd need to install Zotero on it and then create a merged file of all chapters on Word for Windows?

adamsmith

Yes, exactly. You don't even need to sync your Zotero library.

JDRaskin

Cool. Thank you. Will Zotero for Mac ever be upgraded so it works better?

adamsmith

The bottleneck is the Word for Mac API, not Zotero for Mac, so it depends on Microsoft updates. Zotero for Mac is as fast or faster than the Windows version on Google docs and LibreOffice.

bwiernik

Installing a trial version of Parallels on your Mac and running Word in a Windows virtual machine is also an option

JDRaskin

I like that idea. Thanks!

zurpher

@JDRaskin I also work on a book with separate chapter files. Do you know whether there is a way to cross reference between the chapter files, e.g. (see Chapter 2) in chapter one?

If not, is there a way to work with a single file and create end of chapter references? The book will "only" be about 300 pages long.