Copying/pasting multiple items as separate citations in Scannable Cite format?

I am trying to copy a large number of citations into Scrivener (in Scannable Cite format for eventual ODF scan) but would like to keep each separate. I've been dragging & dropping or copying & pasting citations one by one but it would help tremendously to be able to move a big chunk over at once (e.g. all of the refs I need to include a particular section, but not necessarily in the same sentence.)

When I tried 'Create Bibliography from Items', with 'Citations' as the output mode, they came out each on their own line which would be perfect, but unfortunately, 'Scannable Cite' is not listed among the citation styles there (I guess because it's an 'export style?'). (I tried exporting, too, but the refs are all combined as they are with Quick Copy/ drag & drop.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

--
Zotero 4.0.9; Firefox 22.0; Mac OS 10.8.4
  • Please always make sure to mention if you're referring to an add-on when looking for help. Scannable Cites are not standard part of Zotero - I co-developed the plugin, so I know what you mean, but you may confuse others.

    If you drag over multiple items at once they're still separate markers - they only become a single citation when you leave them exactly as they are, i.e. without anything in between the closing and beginning curly bracket. You can split them up as you want (always making sure to keep a single marker - i.e. what's between two curly brackets - intact).
  • Hi, and thanks. (Sorry about not mentioning that my question had to do with an add-on - will do in future.)

    Can I ask, should the dates end up accumulating and carrying over into subsequent citations? When I copy the following one-by-one, the appear like this:

    { | Tabachnick, et al., (2001) | | |zu:205068:KPRS7QHJ}
    { | Baayen, et al., (2008) | | |zu:205068:T7B3AF2R}
    { | Kliegl, et al., (2010) | | |zu:205068:3U4GMARV}
    { | Proctor, et al., (2011) | | |zu:205068:BIVT4VGA}
    { | Nimon, (2012) | | |zu:205068:VXJZBEV9}
    { | Barr, et al., (2013) | | |zu:205068:DINJPN56}
    { | Davidson, & Martin, (2013) | | |zu:205068:56HNP5PM}

    But copying and pasting the lot turns out like this:


    { | Tabachnick, et al., (2001) | | |zu:205068:KPRS7QHJ}{ | Baayen, et al., (2001 2008) | | |zu:205068:T7B3AF2R}{ | Kliegl, et al., (2001 2008 2010) | | |zu:205068:3U4GMARV}{ | Proctor, et al., (2001 2008 2010 2011) | | |zu:205068:BIVT4VGA}{ | Nimon, (2001 2008 2010 2011 2012) | | |zu:205068:VXJZBEV9}{ | Barr, et al., (2001 2008 2010 2011 2012 2013) | | |zu:205068:DINJPN56}{ | Davidson, & Martin, (2001 2008 2010 2011 2012 2013 2013) | | |zu:205068:56HNP5PM}

    If I separate them after curly brackets, they still have these extra dates:

    { | Tabachnick, et al., (2001) | | |zu:205068:KPRS7QHJ}
    { | Baayen, et al., (2001 2008) | | |zu:205068:T7B3AF2R}
    { | Kliegl, et al., (2001 2008 2010) | | |zu:205068:3U4GMARV}
    { | Proctor, et al., (2001 2008 2010 2011) | | |zu:205068:BIVT4VGA}
    { | Nimon, (2001 2008 2010 2011 2012) | | |zu:205068:VXJZBEV9}
    { | Barr, et al., (2001 2008 2010 2011 2012 2013) | | |zu:205068:DINJPN56}
    { | Davidson, & Martin, (2001 2008 2010 2011 2012 2013 2013) | | |zu:205068:56HNP5PM}

    If this is correct, is there any way around it?

    Many thanks,
    Jennifer
  • The extra dates are a bug, they shouldn't be there and we'll fix that - you can just delete them or leave them there, they don't have any impact on the scan anyway.
  • Thanks very much, Adam.
  • the fixed add-on is now up, with default settings it should update itself, or you can do so right away by clicking on the tool icon under Tools-->add-ons in Firefox/Zotero
    Thanks for reporting this
  • Working perfectly - thanks for such a speedy fix!
  • Adam -- Two issues:
    1. When creating webpage items, there is no date included, which makes the RTF scan feature unworkable (unless I manually add a date, which often is a fudge). For example, if I wanted to cite this page, what date would I use?

    2. Am I correct in understanding that if I add page numbers as part of my Scrivener citation in the curley brackets {smith, 1-10, 1997} and {Smith, 25, 1997} it will create separate footnote citations (at bottom of the page)?

    3. Also, how does one change the footnote method from inline citations to numbered footnotes?

    Thanks,
    Mel
  • Adding to my item directly above...when creating item from webpage, one also has to add an 'author', so between adding a date and adding an author, it makes citing webpages a bit kluge, no?
  • you seem to not be using scannable cites and the ODF scan feature at all. A scannable cite will have 4 pipes (|) in it and look like this:
    { | Tabachnick, et al., (2001) | | |zu:205068:KPRS7QHJ}
    We developed this to get around the limitations of RTF scan:
    http://zotero-odf-scan.github.io/zotero-odf-scan/
    and the author (date) part in the scannable cites is just for your benefit, it's ignored by the scan.

    For RTF scan issues, start a new thread, but I at least currently have little motivation to try addressing those, since ODF scan is so much more reliable & powerful.
  • Adamsmith -- Thank you for your help, but I can't seem to get it work as advertised...
    I installed the new plug-ins in Zotero and confirmed it has RTF/ODF as an option.
    I downloaded Libreoffice and installed the Zotero plug-in (little menu is on the top left).
    I successfully copied citations from Zotero and pasted them into my Scrivener document (the pipes were there).
    I exported the scrivener document as .odt format.
    I scanned it with Zotero, saving it with the (citations) format.
    I opened the (citations) version in Libreoffice...
    The output had the footnotes as in-line citations in shaded boxes, not parenthesis. I cannot figure out where the citation for the referenced footnote is supposed to appear -- either at the bottom or in the back of the document -- it just isn't anywhere.
    I could not insert a printable bibliography. When I pressed "insert bibliography" at a point in the document, all I got was {bibliography}. While I did not print put a hard copy, a print preview revealed nothing, nor did saving it as PDF.
    So what am I doing wrong?
    Thanks,
    Mel
  • Wait! Wait! I think I figured it out -- I changed "Chicago Author, date" to Chicago, full note. Seems to work. Sorry...
  • edited August 21, 2013
    your missing the step described under "setting a citation style":
    In Zotero's LibreOffice plugin toolbar, click on "Set Document Preferences" and choose the citation style. Click OK and Zotero will format all references in your document.
    If your selected citation style uses footnotes (e.g. Chicago (Full note)) the references will automatically be converted to full notes.
Sign In or Register to comment.