Import from RefWorks into Standalone

dolsysmith
I need to import citations from RefWorks into Zotero Standalone.

I've tried all of the advertised methods for importing citations from RefWorks into Zotero. I've reset the translators. I've tried copying and pasting the RefWorks output into a text file. I've tried exporting from RefWorks in both Chrome and Explorer. But in each case, when I use the Import function in Zotero and select the saved file, nothing happens. (I actually tried it on two separate computers; on one, nothing happens, and on the other, Zotero says "input format not supported.")

Any ideas what I might be doing wrong?

Thanks!
  • dolsysmith
    P.S. My computer is running XP, but I tried it also on a computer running Windows 7.
  • adamsmith
    in which format are you exporting from RefWorks?
  • dolsysmith
    I've tried RefWorks tagged format, the default "bibliographic software" format, and RefWorks XML format. All produce the same behavior.
  • aurimas
    Could you post a single RefWorks tagged entry that does not import?
  • dolsysmith
    Sure -- see below (copied and pasted as is from the .txt file I downloaded). Thanks for your help.


    Refworks Export Tagged Format

    Character Set=utf-8

    Tag legend
    *****
    RT=Reference Type
    SR=Source Type
    ID=Reference Identifier
    A1=Primary Authors
    T1=Primary Title
    JF=Periodical Full
    JO=Periodical Abbrev
    YR=Publication Year
    FD=Publication Data,Free Form
    VO=Volume
    IS=Issue
    SP=Start Page
    OP=Other Pages
    K1=Keyword
    AB=Abstract
    NO=Notes
    A2=Secondary Authors
    T2=Secondary Title
    ED=Edition
    PB=Publisher
    PP=Place of Publication
    A3=Tertiary Authors
    A4=Quaternary Authors
    A5=Quinary Authors
    T3=Tertiary Title
    SN=ISSN/ISBN
    AV=Availability
    AD=Author Address
    AN=Accession Number
    LA=Language
    CL=Classification
    SF=Subfile/Database
    OT=Original Foreign Title
    LK=Links
    DO=Document Object Index
    CN=Call Number
    DB=Database
    DS=Data Source
    IP=Identifying Phrase
    RD=Retrieved Date
    ST=Shortened Title
    U1=User 1
    U2=User 2
    U3=User 3
    U4=User 4
    U5=User 5
    U6=User 6
    U7=User 7
    U8=User 8
    U9=User 9
    U10=User 10
    U11=User 11
    U12=User 12
    U13=User 13
    U14=User 14
    U15=User 15
    UL=URL
    SL=Sponsoring Library
    LL=Sponsoring Library Location
    CR=Cited References
    WT=Website Title
    A6=Website Editor
    WV=Website Version
    WP=Date of Electronic Publication
    OL=Output Language
    PMID=PMID
    PMCID=PMCID

    *****
    Font Attribute Legend
    Start Bold =
    End Bold =
    Start Underline =
    End Underline =
    Start Italic =
    End Italic =
    Start SuperScript =
    End SuperScript =
    Start SubScript =
    End SubScript =

    *****
    BEGIN EXPORTED REFERENCES




    RT Journal Article
    SR Electronic(1)
    ID 1220
    A1 Brennan,Timothy
    T1 The Empire's New Clothes
    JF Critical Inquiry
    YR 2003
    FD 01/01
    VO 29
    IS 2
    SP 337
    OP 367
    NO doi: 10.1086/374030
    LK http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/374030
    OL Unknown(0)
  • aurimas
    If you get rid of the preamble (everything from the beginning down to "RT Journal Article") does it work? We'll fix this to work without editing, but please test this in the mean time.
  • dolsysmith
    I actually tried that, too. And nope, doesn't seem to work. Are you able to replicate the problem?
  • adamsmith
    edited April 23, 2013
    no, works for me. Try downloading this:
    https://gist.github.com/adam3smith/5444488/raw/70f4ddcdc08d9e57ee949d2801423ecd2e47af84/RWtest.txt (right-click --> save link as...).
    and importing into Zotero (it's just your example above as a text file - I want to know if there's something in the file format this is saved as that's preventing this from working.)
  • aurimas
    I can replicate the problem if I don't remove the preamble. If I just paste
    RT Journal Article
    SR Electronic(1)
    ID 1220
    A1 Brennan,Timothy
    T1 The Empire's New Clothes
    JF Critical Inquiry
    YR 2003
    FD 01/01
    VO 29
    IS 2
    SP 337
    OP 367
    NO doi: 10.1086/374030
    LK http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/374030
    OL Unknown(0)
    Zotero imports correctly.
  • dolsysmith
    Thanks -- I reinstalled Zotero standalone, and the import is working now, provided I remove the preamble.
  • aurimas
    also, that DOI in the note (NO) tag, is that coming from a DOI field in RefWorks or did you enter it as a note?
  • dolsysmith
    It's coming from the Notes field in RefWorks, but that's where it seems to have ended up. (I didn't add it.)
  • adamsmith
    OK, that's working correctly then on our side of things, thanks for checking!
  • aurimas
    @adamsmith, do you have any idea if this is more or less standardized way of entering DOIs in RefWorks (based on automatic imports... I'm not sure how RefWorks works)? We could map the doi from the note, but if the formatting is random, then it's probably not worth it.
  • adamsmith
    I don't know if that's standard, no, but they do have a dedicated field for DOI (DO) and Note often contains actual notes (including in their example data on http://www.refworks.com/rwathens/help/RefWorks_Tagged_Format.htm )
    I'd leave this alone.
  • adamsmith
    Aurimas fixed the translator, which should now also work with preamble
    Your version of Zotero will automatically update within 24hs, or you can update manually using the "Update Now" button in the "General" tab of the Zotero preferences.

    Any further problems let us know & thanks for reporting

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