How to import Citations/Bibliography from Microsoft Word back into Zotero?

leachdf · April 28, 2016

I recently had to have my hard drive replaced and lost my Zotero library from which I had been citing from for an article written in Microsoft Word. How can I import the citation information back into Zotero now that I have redownloaded Zotero? I would like to do this so that I am free to move my citations around in my word document using Zotero. I just discovered that I can create an online account and sync my Zotero library online so that this type of problem would be avoided, but first I need to reestablish my library from my word document. Detailed advice would be much appreciated.

adamsmith · April 28, 2016

It doesn't work out of the box and is quite involved, so it'd only be worth it if you're looking at a very substantive number of citations. Otherwise you're likely better off just re-importing them and replacing them in Word.
Let me know if you do want the instructions.

leachdf · May 2, 2016

Yes, could you please comment the instructions? I have roughly 130 citations so far so I'd like to avoid re-importing them.

adamsmith · May 6, 2016

sorry for the delay. See https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/35987/import-old-zotero-bibliography-from-word-field-codes-still-present-into-library/

You'll want to read through the whole thread to be aware of the changes since it started.

Rintze · October 16, 2016

I created a tool, "Reference Extractor", to quickly extract embedded Zotero references from .docx Word documents. It's available at http://rintze.zelle.me/ref-extractor/. The extracted item metadata (in CSL JSON format) can be (re)imported into Zotero.

P.S. Feedback is more than welcome, and can be given either here or at the code repository at https://github.com/rmzelle/ref-extractor.
P.P. S. There are no privacy concerns: while it is a website, the extraction takes place entirely on your computer, and nobody has access to the Word documents you process with the tool.