MS-Word plug-In instead of rtf scan

I would like to move to Zotero instead of Endnote, but I would like to work in the same way.

Now I save my quotes and page numbers in my own software and my software generates a code for Endnote. It is important to have page numbers. Example:

“Quote”, {Walton, 2007 #1591@203}

There is a field in my database that contains the Endnote code without the page: {Walton, 2007 #1591} I copy this in Endnote with <CONTROL-C>.

And my software inserts the page number for every quote I need and puts the full code on the clipboard. (The page number is also stored in the database.) Now I can paste the quote + Endnote code in MS Word.

I have tried to do the same with Zotero, but it does not work. In Zotero the equivalent code would be:

{Walton, 2007, 203}

But saving my document as rtf and scanning it in Zotero, does not find the quote.

My suggestion is for a couple of improvements:

• I copy the Endnote code in Endnote with <CONTROL-C>. This should be possible in Zotero as well.
• The codes in Zotero should contain the record id, like the Endnote one. Thus Zotero would recognize the quotes with more accuracy.
• The Word plug-in should replace the codes with the citation, just like Endnote does. Rtf scan should not be necessary.

I work in Windows with MS-Word and Zotero as standalone software.

Many thanks for help.
  • I do not know if the Zotero Word plugin can intercept copy-paste. The developers can comment on that.

    I have a feeling that even if this would be technically feasible, it is probably not a high priority development target.
  • @mronkko

    I did not mean that.

    Imagine that paste the EndNote code in my document in a footnote: {Walton, 2007 #1591@203}

    EndNote has a button "Update citations and bibliography". When I press that button Endnote will replace this code with Word fields (Endnote citations).

    It does the same as the function "RTF scan" in Zotero, but friendlier and faster. I don't have to leave the document, nor to save it as RTF.
  • @maroiu

    What is the advantage to cut-and-paste of a code fragment + update over native insert via word processor integration? (Not saying that there is no advantage; I'm just curious).
  • @fbennett

    I collect quotes from the material in my personal database. And I tag them to one or more paragraphs in my work (or other kind of grouping).

    When I write a paragraph I make a selection of the quotes for that paragraph. From those quotes I might want to use some or just insert a footnote with the reference. So I press a button in my software and this button puts the EndNote code (including the page number of my quote) on the clipboard. Another button puts the quote + the Endnote code + page number on the clipboard. Then I paste the code or the quote + code in Word. EndNote transforms everything in a citation.

    My software formats the quote correctly. If there is some quote within the quote, my software will transform the double quotes in single ones.

    This is much faster than introducing a footnote using EndNote itself or Zotero. And I can reuse the quotes for other projects. Quoting in Zotero or EndNote is slower, because you have to search for the citation and type the page number.
  • @fbennett

    Imagine that I want to use a quote from my database. I press a button and I get the following in on my clipboard:

    "Emotional arguments, such as appeals to fear or pity…", {Walton, 2007 #1591@137}

    I paste this in a footnote in my document and when I'm finished I press “Update Citations and Bibliography” on the toolbar made by EndNote. EndNote will transform my citation in:

    "Emotional arguments, such as appeals to fear or pity…", D.N. Walton, Media argumentation : dialectic, persuasion, and rhetoric. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007, p.137.

    And will add it to the bibliography.
  • This sounds very similar to something I implemented in the multilingual variant of Zotero (MLZ) a few months ago.

    http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/18064/2/please-add-better-integration-with-scrivener/#Item_5

    It has the same pull-a-quote facility, but it can't (currently) be converted to a Zotero citation within the word processor: the document has to be saved in ODF format first.

    It may eventually be added to Zotero, depending on how much demand there is for it.
  • (... and also, of course, on whether someone else comes up with something better, which certainly might happen)
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