How can I import Pdf's using safari?

Hmain · October 28, 2012

I have just downloaded Zotero Standalone for Mac and the appropriate connector for Safari. I cannot link/import Pdf's. The icon by the search bar says that Zotero is online but nothing happens. I was told that Zotero was amazing and after wasting 5 hours of valuable time to get this working I am not really that sure. Please can anyone offer any help or advice. My software etc is up to sate for the Mac.. I don't see any problems. Thank you

aurimas · October 28, 2012

could you describe what's happening in some more detail?

which web pages are you attempting to import pdfs from? what do you mean by "nothing happens"? do you have access to these pdfs?

have you looked through http://www.zotero.org/support/quick_start_guide to familiarize yourself with how Zotero works?

Hmain · October 28, 2012

Thanks for taking the time to reply. If i google search a subject with the view to finding pdf's, i.e. transferable skills pdf, the grey zotero sign appears beside the search bar, saying it is online but i cannot do anything else, it does not change or respond if i click it. If i go to amazon or google scholar etc. the icon changes and allows me to copy the list of link/import a document. It seems there is just a problem with pdf's.

aurimas · October 28, 2012

it seems that there is some misunderstanding of how and from where Zotero is able to import items. Please take a look at http://www.zotero.org/support/getting_stuff_into_your_library

Zotero can only import items from pages that it can find bibliographic information on. Google searches do not contain any such information, so Zotero is unable to import anything from Google search result pages. Zotero can also only import PDFs where they are made available to you.

To make sure that PDF attachments work for you in general, try importing http://www.advancesindifferenceequations.com/content/2012/1/2/abstract If you manage to import the article along with the PDF attachment, then everything is working as expected.

Hmain · October 28, 2012

Ok, i think i am getting there. thank you. I have followed the link 'getting stuff into your library' which is very useful but i do not have the blue icon 'create new item from current page button' option. is this because like the examples shown on the video i cannot get my library tab to show at the bottom of the screen (like video examples) whilst i am in amazon, or searching my journal database etc. How do i get it to display like the videos and surely this will then let me create new item from current page button? Thanks for your time.

mronkko · October 28, 2012

Zotero for Safari does not work the same way as Zotero for firefox. You cannot get Zotero as a pane to show in Safari. The safari connector has limited functionality and this is a technical limitation by Safari so there is not much that can be done about it.

The Safari connector gives you a button on the left side of the address bar. You can use that to save citation items and their PDFs from pages that Zotero supports. I do not think that you can save web page snapshots from Safari, but I am not sure. (I do most of my research using the Safari connector and Zotero Standalone.)