Import from Excel and Access databases

pioneer41
I have bibliographic references in MS Excel and Access that I need to get into Zotero.
How should I export them and how do I get the exported files into RIS format to import into Zotero? Thanks.
  • ffenby
    I too have the same need. i have nearly 2000 items to import.
  • adamsmith
    there really is no simple way - if you have access to endnote somewhere that maybe has an access filter - otherwise I don't see much hope for doing this automatically.
  • emmakb
    There definitely doesn't seem to be a way to get them directly into Zotero - but if you have access to EndNote, then the easiest thing to do is to convert your spreadsheet to a text (tab delimited) file and import it to EndNote, following the instructions here: http://www.lib.uts.edu.au/faq/endnote/other-reference-management-software. Once the references are on EndNote, it's very straightforward to export then import them to Zotero.
    That whole process took me nearly a couple of hours to do but involved a bit of searching to find the best instructions (see link above) and is the first time I have attempted anything so technical on a computer so should be more straightforward for most of you out there!
  • swellseabird
    edited May 16, 2013
    I have the same problem : more than a thousand items to convert from Access to Zotero. As I don't find a simple way to do that in forums, I finally made a VBA code in Microsoft ACCESS to convert a Microsoft ACCESS table into a RIS file which can be directly imported in Zotero. And it works great !

    I made this "export function" code in Microsoft ACCESS because I used to program in VBA Access. But for an excel sheet, this code works too if you import (or attach) your excel file in Access prior to run the function.

    If someone are interested in, my VBA code is detailed there
    => https://gist.github.com/swellseabird/5590843

    For people who don't know VBA, you have to open the "Visual Basic Editor" in your Access database and copy my code in a new module. You need to adapt this code to your database => "Table_name" / "Field_name" / "value"
    ... and then run the "Export_zotero" function
  • swellseabird
    edited May 24, 2013
    It is also possible to create and/or export the links to biblio files in the RIS export file to open these files (pdf, web page) directly in zotero.
    This can be done manually in Zotero but it takes too much time for more than hundreds references.
    I have completed my VBA code with the links (see previous message)
  • adamsmith
    why don't you just put the code on github? That's a better place for code anyway and you can make it available with the right file extension and everything - even a public gist - gist.github.com - will do and you wouldn't even have to register (though if you do you can edit it at a later time).
  • swellseabird
    Thank you for advice, I didn't know github. It is done.
  • max1836
    So, it seems import has a workaround. How about export?

    I'd sure like to be able to take a view and dump it in a format that could be imported into Excel for example.

    Dump to clipboard and paste into Excel would be even slicker...
  • adamsmith
    http://royce.kimmons.me/tutorials/zotero_to_excel
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