The future of Zotero

RichardVarey · January 6, 2017

Hi - I am in the process of migrating my data from Paperpile to Zotero Standalone.

I saw this comment on a Paperpile forum in the last few days:

".... Zotero for Firefox shutting down next month or so ...... and Zotero Standalone shifting platforms in 2017 ....."

Am I safe to shift to Zotero? Please clarify.

Rintze · January 6, 2017

You should be safe. The Zotero developers have indicated that the full-featured Zotero for Firefox plugin is close to being replaced by a light-weight connector (all Zotero users will soon need to start using Zotero Standalone, regardless of which browser they use), and later, in maybe about a year, the underpinnings of Zotero Standalone will be replaced (from using Firefox-technology that is no longer being developed, to the much newer Chrome-based Electron platform), but most functionality should remain, and the eventual migration to the new platform probably won't be too complicated.

All in all, Zotero is just being updated to keep with the times.

RichardVarey · January 6, 2017

Thanks for the clarification.

mebbert · January 21, 2017

@RichardVarey, may I ask why you're switching from Paperpile to Zotero? I'm considering the opposite since they're supporting Word. Paperpile looks pretty slick.

RichardVarey · January 21, 2017

Hi - I've retired from academic employment and no longer need the sophistication or subscription charges of Paperpile as a very occasional user. I enjoyed using it for a few years and found it reliable and feature-rich, most of which I no longer need.

bwiernik · January 21, 2017

@mebbert Could you explain what you mean by Paperpile supporting Word? Zotero also has a Word plugin that works quite well.

mebbert · January 21, 2017

@bwiernik, sure. It's not the Word plugin itself, it's the way Paperpile works AND that it now supports Word. I don't like Google Docs so much, which is what Paperpile was originally developed for.