A full tutorial of new copy feature for notes ??

bradco
The following quote from Dan Stillman dated 06.03.08 is all I can find on the new "copy" feature for notes:

This is now implemented in the latest dev build. Quick Copy now outputs full content of notes in bibliography mode if only copying notes; otherwise, it excludes notes from the generated bibliography.

I'm inexperienced on Zotero so I'm reading references to features ("Quick Copy"- where is that ?) and the threads in this forum are cryptic and barely explained. I'm trying to write a paper in Chicago style (Author-Date) format. Is there a way to access and insert notes from the Word plug-in interfaces ?? I"m in Z 1.07 and Word Plug-In 1.03b and FF 3. The quote above seems to hint at that. Is there a tutorial or manual explanation on accessing notes per the new development quoted above ? Thank you.
  • scot
    Quick Copy is what you get when you have one or more items selected in your data base and you press CTRL-ALT-C (or ? CMD-ALT-C on mac?). It copies the bibliographic citations of your default format to the clipboard. It is a quick and cheerful way to cite from Zotero when you aren't using the word processor plugins. You can change the key combination in the preferences.

    You can't copy notes from the WP plugins, which are only for inserting citation information.

    To copy notes, either drag them from Zotero's center pane, or select and copy the text out of the right hand pane. It sounds as if (probably in 1.0.8), you'll be able to select them and do quick copy as well.
  • dstillman
    edited September 12, 2008
    (Cmd-Shift-C on the Mac.)

    Quick Copy refers to both the keyboard shortcut and dragging (with both using the settings in the Export pane), but the copying of notes only works with dragging, for, I think, no good reason in particular. It also only works if you select just notes. If you select a combination of notes and regular items, the notes will be ignored.
  • bradco
    "Quick Copy refers to both the keyboard shortcut and *dragging* "

    Zotero has some super video tutorials. Am I the only one that would like to see this "dragging" feature ? If I have both Zotero & Word open (somehow sharing the screen) and I put keyboard focus on Zotero note- click- and then Word minimizes (yes, I'm in Windows, not Mac) and then "drag" to the Word document (which was minimized) - which now has the focus - and then Zotero minimizes. . . really, now . . . I would love to see this process, successful, visually !!

    On a hopeful note (I see reference to 1.0.8)- I wrote a first 5-page paper yesterday totally with Zotero. I find that the collection process was and is straightforward and glitch-free. It's translating the collection to the Word doc that was a major challenge, to say the least. I lost count how many 96 errors, unwanted items in the bibliography right-side panel (that won't go away) and dissappearing cites there were. Not to mention how to get the bib appearing the way I want (single spaced cites but spaces between whole cites).

    An unholy beginner's mess, which I hope will get better with use-- yet I'm a fan of Zotero. I see the power and speed with research and paper writing. I just wish there was a lot more thought & support on handling the plug-in and getting that collection down onto the paper. This is a utility that I would gladly send $$$ to because of the sheer time saving potential that is just almost there.
  • adamsmith
    edited September 13, 2008
    I have to say I'm a bit confused. I've written several article length papers with Zt and never had the kinds of issues you describe - maybe you can elaborate a bit and we might be able to help?

    E.g. Both APSA and ASA styles - for example - create the type of bibliography you want.
    The plugin - may be a _little_ buggy but not anywhere close to what you describe, so chances are you are doing something wrong.
    I don't quite see what the advantage of dragging would be over just clicking it in the plugin - but maybe I'm missing something?

    Better documentation would actually be nice, though obviously not as a video...
    That said, this is an extremely helpful forum and specific questions are usually answered within a couple of hours.

    Edit: I just looked at the documentation again: http://www.zotero.org/documentation/ it actually looks pretty good and seems to cover all of Zotero.
  • bradco
    "I don't quite see what the advantage of dragging would be over just clicking it in the plugin - but maybe I'm missing something?"

    What "it" are you referring to ? I thought Stillman was talking about dragging NOTES to WORD. What are you "just clicking in the plug in ?"

    A video of this would indeed help see . . .
  • dstillman
    The word processor plugins let you insert linked citations and bibliographies (not Zotero notes) into Word or OpenOffice that automatically update when you make changes in Zotero. The current plugin versions are a bit buggy, but new versions will be released in the near future.

    Quick Copy lets you copy citations, bibliography entries, and notes (the latter currently only via dragging, not the keyboard shortcuts defined in the prefs) into any program in an unlinked manner—all you get is plain text with no link back to Zotero.

    That's pretty much all there is to it, but review the documentation, review the screencasts, and let us know if you have other specific questions.
  • bradco
    OK: I was able to reproduce what you mean: I opened Word all the way, then opened FF, resized down-- FF on top of Word. Then, I dragged a note icon from the middle pane of Zotero into Word, and the text then inserts into the open Word doc. This is an important feature, and hopefully we will soon be able to access notes from the plug-in interface.
  • Tjowens
    While there is not a specific screencast on Zotero's drag and drop bibliography capabilities you can see it in action in the "Zotero and Google Tools" cast.

    That said, I will add better documenting these quick copy and drag and drop functions to my to do list.

    http://www.zotero.org/documentation/zotero_and_google_tools
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