Citation Reference

Smitty327 · September 23, 2010

I downloaded a PDF and saved to my Library. I right clicked on my PDF filed and clicked to "Create Bibliography from Selected Item." I got an error message saying "The Items you have selected contain no references. Please select one of more references and try again."
Can someone tell me how am I to generate a citation from a saved PDF?
Thanks

adamsmith · September 23, 2010

the pdf needs to be attached to an item with metadata.
You can try right-clicking and choseing "retrieve metadata". If that doesn't work you have to create a new item (green plus) and drag the pdf there.

chrisduque · January 18, 2012

this is really stupid, I am having the same problem

adamsmith · January 18, 2012

Chris - do you still need help?

chrisduque · January 19, 2012

What I did is convert every pdf in a parent item and now it works, but I dont believe this should be the correct way to solve the problem

adamsmith · January 19, 2012

The correct way is to get data instead of PDF files into Zotero in the first place. Read or watch some of the getting started documentation for guidance.
http://www.zotero.org/support/quick_start_guide