feature suggestion: copy paste to add an item

leiswang

I love i can copy a PDF in Mac finder, paste it in Mendley, then this PDF is added to the library. I realized Zotero currently can't do this, but just drag and drop, and this requires making two windows side by side, which is an extra step. Could we please have Zotero to enable copy paste to add a PDF to library? Many thanks.

enozkan

Not an answer to your question, but why manually download pdfs and then manually add them to your Zotero library (and then delete the copy you downloaded manually to prevent duplicates on your disk)? You can do the same with a single click at the moment you visit the journal or publisher's webpage for that article or book, and you will likely get higher quality metadata for the item and pdf being saved from that webpage.

https://www.zotero.org/support/adding_items_to_zotero

leiswang

Thanks for the suggestion. Not all the entry items I save is journal. I print Webpage to PDF for example, some commercial reports also. So a quick copy/paste to add to library like old Endnote or Mendley is so good for this case. Thanks.

dstillman

We can see if we're able to support this on a technical level, but we'll be making it possible to drag PDFs to Zotero's Dock icon or open them via Zotero to add them in an upcoming version. (You can also drag via Cmd-Tab or Mission Control — you certainly don't need to rearrange windows.)

leiswang

thanks d. drag and drop works for now, just coming from Endnote and Mendenly, the experience to copy and paste to add is too good to forget...Cheers.

leiswang

tried drag via Cmd-Tab: the steps in fact not as efficient as copy paste.
Cmd-Tab: 1. realized a PDF to save, 2. open Zotero, 3. find the right collection, 4. go back to finder folder, 5. click and drag the file, 6.then Cmd-Tab, 7, drop.
Copy paste like Mendely: 1. realized a PDF to save, 2. open Mendely, 3. find the right collection, 4. paste.