Unique identification number or labels for entries

Marg Friesen
what is the best way for me to add a "unique" identification number to each of my entries?
  • RintzeRintze
    What do you want to use the number for?
  • Marg Friesen
    to organize my hard copy files so i can find the papers based on the unique number e.g. m00001, m00002 etc. I give my Zotero entries a number e.g. m0001 and label my hard copy with the same number which i then file in number sequence with other hard copies.
  • RintzeRintze
    Put the number in the file name of the PDF?

    (personally I keep my PDF print-outs sorted alphabetical by author)
  • adamsmith
    edited July 1, 2013
    There's no automated way to do that. You can use s field like "Rights" which is never used in citations, but you'll have to manually create the labels. Zotero has internal unique identifier, but they're random alphanumerical strings, so those wouldn't be terribly useful.

    edit - or what Rintze says.
  • Marg Friesen
    Thanks - this is helpful. I'll try the RIGHTS field and enter numbers/labels manually to correspond with the labels on the hard copies I have. What other fields are never used in citations?
  • Marg Friesen
    I just checked to see if the RIGHTS field was empty in my already entered citations (nearly 1000) and some citations have entries - so this is not the best field as I will be losing metadata. I'm wondering whether the EXTRAS field is ever used for anything downloaded? marg
  • Marg Friesen
    ... EXTRA also has info in it. I think it is ARCHIVE that can be used. marg
  • adamsmith
    (extra is used for PMIDs currently if that's relevant in your field)
  • pfernandutk
    "There's no automated way to do that. You can use s field like "Rights" which is never used in citations, but you'll have to manually create the labels. Zotero has internal unique identifier, but they're random alphanumerical strings, so those wouldn't be terribly useful."

    Is there any way to expose the internal unique identifier?
  • adamsmith
    yes, see here: http://zoteromusings.wordpress.com/2013/04/23/zotero-item-uris-from-client/

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