how to use bookmarklet on mobile browser
I am using the Chrome browser on my Android tablet. I am looking at the webpage of a journal article. I can not find a way to add it to zotero. I can not use the bookmarklet because chrome on mobile does not have a bookmark bar. To access bookmarks one needs to access the bookmark page and of course then the bookmarklet can no longer access the URL of the page I want to add to zotero. Does anyone know a workaround?
This should probably be in the instructions on the bookmarklet download page, but Google kept changing the way bookmarks were loaded in different versions. I'll have to check but it might be consistent enough to highlight this workaround now.
I'll also submit a feature request to add a button to the web interface that allows adding an item by its identifier. That feature exists in the desktop version and would remove the need to install a bookmarklet.
http://www.zotero.org/support/sync
Whether you use Standalone or the Firefox-add on is irrelevant, both sync the same way.
edit: I'm a little confused about where you're going with these questions - does this work or not?
I. With the stock Android browser, I am getting the bookmarklet to work (uploads to library at zotero.org and syncs to my computer) only when a) I navigate to Save to Zotero (bookmarklet) bookmark from the icon (banner with a star at right of address box) but not b) when I type "Save ..." into the address box, seeing Save to Zotero from a dropdown list and and select it that way (as suggested by fcheslack Chrome browser above).
II. Using the Chrome for Android browser, less success is achieved and the behavior is a bit different (but there may be a clue).
Again, the two approaches to selecting the bookmarklet "bookmark" behave differently from each other (and differently between browsers). a) Navigating to Bookmarks via the icon at right of address (three vertical dots) erases the URL of interest and is kind of a show stopper (there is no bookmark bar visible when the page is interest is displayed). b) Typing "Save ..." into the address box, seeing Save to Zotero from a dropdown list and and select it that way (as suggested by fcheslack Chrome browser above) results in an error message: Looking for Translators. Saving Failed. No items could be saved because the website is not supported by any Zotero translators. If Zotero standalone is not open try opening i...
Note that I was logged into zotero.org in another tab of the Chrome browser (also logged in concurrently with the stock Android browser).
So, to summarize, 1. the trick necessary to activate the bookmarklet "bookmark for Chrome does not work with the Android browser and 2. I am getting an error when I activate it using Chrome.
as for IIb)
on which page did this fail? As it says, the bookmarklet only works on supported sites, i.e. sites that would have a URL bar icon in the desktop version.
OK, it is not as simple as I described.
With URL http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23741482, 4 out of 4 times it says "Looking for translators....", then Saving... and saves the record to the zotero.org (and after sync my local) libraries
With URL http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23741081 it opens window "Looking for Translators...." and then fails 4 out of 6 times with a message about 'Known error & translator issues'.
For IIb:
OK, it is not as simple as I originally stated.
I just tried using "method" IIb again on web site http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23741482 (most successful one above). It just now failed 2 time out of 4 attempts with the Known translator issue. The other 2 times it saved the download.
These are NCBI Pubmed sites and use the NCBI Pubmed translator in Fiefox on a Windows machine.
Also, it is working perfectly on various Windows machines in all browsers. It is a terrific feature. I like to hop browsers and devices and never want to be without upload access to my Zotero account - so I am so thrilled this is working.
On chrome for Android the bookmarklet works using fcheslack's method, but only in Standard PubMed website (not the mobile version). Before saving the article you have to switch to standard website version.
Cheers
Mike
Just started using the bookmarklet on my Android tablet and have had good results with the fcheslack method. I've come across a few sites without translators (notably, my university's library catalog: library.Wisc.edu), but most sites work well so long as I go to the desktop versions and not mobile ones.
However, Amazon's site gives me this error message: "Saving via server... á€| An error occurred while saving this item. Check Known Translator Issues for more information."
Nothing posted about Amazon on the known translator issue page. I've just used Barnes and Noble as an alternative, but is this an issue that can be fixed?
WorldCat slipped my mind. That will satisfy all my needs.
BTW, I looked closer at my Zotero library and turns out Barnes and Noble is only saving the web page, not the book itself. Not much concern for my own workflow, but thought I would point it out.
B&N displays generic metadata on its page, which Zotero falls back to lacking a proper translator. Unfortunately, that metadata is lousy - that's what you're seeing.
The fix won't be that easy for other websites though.
thanks for all the input here! I had the bookmarklet successfully running on my Android smartphone and tablet with the Android Chrome browser as described above.
However, since a couple of weeks it doesn't work anymore. On every page that I want to save to Zotero the process gets stuck at "Looking for Translators...". On desktop and mobile pages. Also on pages that worked fine before.
What I tried so far:
1. Set up the Bookmarklet again. No success.
2. Removed all API access keys. No success.
3. Deleted all app data. No success.
Any suggestions? What else can I try?
Thanks in advance.
I tried the Android Browser again (v. 4.2.2-eng.jenkins.20130923.143352) and the bookmarklet works.
The problem on Chrome for Android (v. 39.0.2171.59) persists. It seems as if Chrome does not allow to open the Login credentials Window of Zotero. I tried to deactivate the Popup blocker but still no success.
So my conclusion: Something with the Android Chrome Browser does not seem to work properly.
Any suggestions?
I have just 'signed in to chrome' on both computer and tablet browsers, closed boths browsers and opened them again, and waited a while, still not working. what am i missing?
thanks!