hello. could someone please answer our very urgent question!! i m finishing my masterthesis at the very moment. I m using zotero 4 in firefox. I don't want an upgrade or something, just finish the thesis with zotero 4 and firefox. i don't have time to organize myself with a new version. i will be done on the 9th of august. is there a possibility who is certainly working until then? i want to go along with zotero 4 and firefox... thanks
Yes, you can stay with 4.0 for the next few weeks. There's no automatic upgrade at the moment and "you’ll be offered the choice to upgrade within the next few weeks" (to quote the announcement – my emphasis).
@"Stefanie Plutschow" : added to the above: As you should have finished your literature search so close before the deadline of your masterthesis, there should be no problem with upgrading - in my case all went fine.
But: I wouldn't upgrade, too.
But II: Don't forget always to have a backup of your whole Zotero-library! That's quite more important, as a classical failure can tackle you down immediately...
@Gracile: That's for Standalone — Stefanie is using Zotero for Firefox. From the next paragraph:
Existing Zotero for Firefox users will be automatically upgraded to the Zotero Connector for Firefox within the next few weeks
We're not able to prompt for the Zotero for Firefox -> Zotero Connector for Firefox update, so that one's automatic. While you can disable automatic extension updates in Firefox, I'd strongly discourage it, because you're very likely to forget to reenable them, which could leave you with broken/insecure extensions.
If you don't want to update to 5.0 now, your best bet is probably to install Zotero Standalone 4.0, which is still on the download page. That will share your existing data directory without upgrading it, and if you get updated to the Zotero Connector for Firefox in the next few weeks, you can just keep using 4.0 Standalone to access your data. (You can also wait and install 4.0 Standalone later, but doing it now and verifying that it works normally will help you avoid surprises closer to your deadline.)
Hi, I just wanted to install Zotero on a machine I didn't have Zotero installed. I discovered the standalone application. This is dramatic. My use case scenario is that of university students doing literature research, collecting articles in our own library, at home and elsewhere (in the hospitals where they work). I showed them how to install the Firefox extensions - piece of cake. Now they have to install the standalone application. With admin privileges of course. Which for obvious reasons, they don't have. please, please, please, provide a way to have Zotero without the need for an admin account. It makes your excellent product completely useless... Hans
have you tried installing zotero without admin rights? I have that running at work.
please, please, please, provide a way to have Zotero without the need for an admin account. It makes your excellent product completely useless...
btw. -- hyperbole like that isn't going to get you a better response, especially as it's quite obviously nonsense. It may be inconvenient in your case -- and I understand that -- but given that many people have been using Zotero Standalone even before 5.0 came out, it certainly doesn't make it useless.
@adamsmith Will there be a portable 5.0 that can reside fully and work from a USB flash drive? Can that solve situations where Zotero cannot be installed without Admin rights?
Thanks for your good work. Experiences with 5.0 have been very good so far.
It's a good decision to move to standalone version with a simple connector. Although the old browser plugin was easy to install, it did seem to freeze my browser occasionally, possibly when syncing in the background or similar. I had moved to standalone a few months ago but the old browser addon was still using resources. This seems much better now.
I think it's generally cleaner to have different programs for different purposes. I also could install it on a university machine without admin rights.
I really appreciate the continuous development of Zotero as (from my perspective and compared to Endnote, Refworks and Mendeley) the best and easiest reference manager software. As a previous user of the Firefox version, Z5 also means some changes for me and I hope that maybe improved workflows might ease this transition. My feedback so far is: 1. Zotero got more stable in version 5 and makes it fit for the secure future of FF 2. Zotero support is still superb; Dan fixed my WebDAV issues within hours 3. I still experience severe issues with Windows 10 and scaling to 125%; Zotero fonts are very blurry and make it difficult to work 4. Having the browser and the collection folders in two separate windows makes it difficult to safe the citation right to the correct collection. That was much easier in Zotero for FF; maybe a solution like for the Mendeley Plug-In in FF would work, where clicking on the Save to Zotero button would open a small window to choose the destination inside the Zotero library to save the citation to. 5. Is there a way to drag and drop PDFs directly to the Zotero library without the need to first download and then attach/drag and drop them?
Please let me know if you would like to discuss any of the items in a separate thread. Thanks.
You can just click the save button when viewing a PDF. In version 5.0.11 of the Zotero Connector, which was just released, the save button shows a PDF icon to make this clear.
@LiborA and @dstillman Thanks. I now found the function. Similar to 4) I would like to add: 6. Also due to the new separate windows compared to Zotero for FF, it appears to be less convenient to open PDFs. Is there a way to change the Z5 preferences so that PDFs will always open in the existing FF window - independent of my system settings for the default PDF program?
@marianschmidt Regarding to your No. 4: If you're selecting a folder in Zotero Standalone, and then store the citation, Zotero will put it in that folder.
I find this more convenient than picking a folder out of a small PopUp-list. You should have Zotero Standalone opened, as I understood the programs notifications, to have the most of functions available.
Is there a way to change the Z5 preferences so that PDFs will always open in the existing FF window - independent of my system settings for the default PDF program?
Open PDFs from Zotero in Firefox? No, and I'm not really sure why you'd want to — the Firefox PDF renderer is much worse than pretty much any native PDF reader.
@marianschmidt: For your #3, I solved it this way: Right-click on the Zotero shortcut or start menu item. Select Properties, then Compatibility. Click on "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings", then on Apply. When I restarted Zotero, text is no longer blurry.
i can not modify the shortcut key of ‘import from clipboard’ in zotero 5.0，its shortcut key is ‘CLTR+SHIFT+ALT+I’, but it is too complicat . i always modify it into ‘CLTR+SHIFT+V‘ in zotero 4.0
@htsq : you can't modify this shortcut in 5.0, but it might be simplified in the future. For your information, there's a github issue where you can track the progress: https://github.com/zotero/zotero/issues/1181
ZOTERO. THIS STANDALONE VERSION SUCKS!!!! IT'S TERRIBLE TO HAVE TO DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL, I'D RATHER MUCH USE IT ON MY FIREFOX BROWSER LIKE BEFORE! I'm leaving my complain here because I don't know where to send a letter to the creators of this stupid standalone version. #BADMOVE
@andrehmbezerra And what exactly don't you like? Having to download and install? Which you were doing in any case even with the Firefox version, but maybe never realized. Zotero's most ardent users and community contributors are in agreement that stepping away from Firefox is the right thing to do (despite the initial pains). Maybe if you spent some time with this new thing, you will love it even more than before?
Zotero's most ardent users and community contributors are in agreement that stepping away from Firefox is the right thing to do
Just to reiterate what's explained in the blog post, it's not about being the "right thing to to do" (though there are clearly upsides) — Mozilla is discontinuing the platform on which Zotero for Firefox is based, so we literally can't keep producing the old version.
@dstillman I think you'll can take more credit than that. Sure, the change was precipitated for technical reasons, but the change in itself is a good thing (even if the technical reason never existed). And you kind of acknowledge that in the blog post, "And most importantly, Zotero developers will be able to spend less time maintaining separate versions and responding to Firefox changes and more time improving Zotero for everyone."
While Firefox was a great first home for the toddler and teenager, it was starting to (or eventually will) restrict the young adult.
Comment. I've been using the standalone version for years and very much prefer it to the FF version. Besides being able to choose between browsers, it lets me view my entire Zotero library on one screen and compose or browse on another. (I use 2 screens on desktops and an iPad + laptop when traveling.) But even without multiple screens, switching windows is a snap. It also makes more sense to have the app independent of a particular browser. Those of you who are complaining about the standalone version should try it before you dis it.
Question. I work on three computers: iMac at home, iMac at work, and Macbook Air for traveling. My Zotero library syncs between the 3. PDF attachments to Zotero items reside on a NAS drive at home, and I use Zotfile to manage them. I also use LyZ and BibDesk when writing with LyX.
My question is how best to make the transition to 5.0. For instance, can I upgrade the version on one machine, use it for a few weeks to make sure it's working for me, and then do the two others? Or, are 4.x and 5.0 so incompatible that upgrading one breaks the connectivity to the other two?
Also, given the plugins and auxiliary programs mentioned above, are there any foreseeable issues upgrading to 5.0?
@marsh I am speaking from Windows experience. I have Zotero 5.0.x on one machine and Zotero Firefox 4.0.29.x on another, and they sync and work with each other without any issues. I have had this setup for about 6 months now. Hanging on to 4.0.29 on one machine so I can keep updating my google scholar citations.
How to upgrade: TAKE A FULL BACKUP. Then, follow 5.0 installation directions. It will offer to move your existing Zotero directory, and if all goes well, you will be up and running in a few minutes.
I am a low-key user of Zotfile and Zutilo and, for my needs, these are working fine in 5.0 Add-ons not working in 5.0 - Google Scholar Citations and Prevent Duplicates
Upgrade Storage
There's no automatic upgrade at the moment and "you’ll be offered the choice to upgrade within the next few weeks" (to quote the announcement – my emphasis).
Edit:
@Stefanie%20Plutschow I was wrong, sorry, please read Dan's answer below.
But: I wouldn't upgrade, too.
But II: Don't forget always to have a backup of your whole Zotero-library! That's quite more important, as a classical failure can tackle you down immediately...
Check this documentation on how to back up: https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data
If you don't want to update to 5.0 now, your best bet is probably to install Zotero Standalone 4.0, which is still on the download page. That will share your existing data directory without upgrading it, and if you get updated to the Zotero Connector for Firefox in the next few weeks, you can just keep using 4.0 Standalone to access your data. (You can also wait and install 4.0 Standalone later, but doing it now and verifying that it works normally will help you avoid surprises closer to your deadline.)
I just wanted to install Zotero on a machine I didn't have Zotero installed. I discovered the standalone application.
This is dramatic. My use case scenario is that of university students doing literature research, collecting articles in our own library, at home and elsewhere (in the hospitals where they work). I showed them how to install the Firefox extensions - piece of cake.
Now they have to install the standalone application. With admin privileges of course. Which for obvious reasons, they don't have.
please, please, please, provide a way to have Zotero without the need for an admin account. It makes your excellent product completely useless...
Hans
It's a good decision to move to standalone version with a simple connector. Although the old browser plugin was easy to install, it did seem to freeze my browser occasionally, possibly when syncing in the background or similar. I had moved to standalone a few months ago but the old browser addon was still using resources. This seems much better now.
I think it's generally cleaner to have different programs for different purposes. I also could install it on a university machine without admin rights.
So, thanks again!
1. Zotero got more stable in version 5 and makes it fit for the secure future of FF
2. Zotero support is still superb; Dan fixed my WebDAV issues within hours
3. I still experience severe issues with Windows 10 and scaling to 125%; Zotero fonts are very blurry and make it difficult to work
4. Having the browser and the collection folders in two separate windows makes it difficult to safe the citation right to the correct collection. That was much easier in Zotero for FF; maybe a solution like for the Mendeley Plug-In in FF would work, where clicking on the Save to Zotero button would open a small window to choose the destination inside the Zotero library to save the citation to.
5. Is there a way to drag and drop PDFs directly to the Zotero library without the need to first download and then attach/drag and drop them?
Please let me know if you would like to discuss any of the items in a separate thread. Thanks.
6. Also due to the new separate windows compared to Zotero for FF, it appears to be less convenient to open PDFs. Is there a way to change the Z5 preferences so that PDFs will always open in the existing FF window - independent of my system settings for the default PDF program?
Regarding to your No. 4: If you're selecting a folder in Zotero Standalone, and then store the citation, Zotero will put it in that folder.
I find this more convenient than picking a folder out of a small PopUp-list. You should have Zotero Standalone opened, as I understood the programs notifications, to have the most of functions available.
For your information, there's a github issue where you can track the progress: https://github.com/zotero/zotero/issues/1181
Please read https://www.zotero.org/support/forum_guidelines#etiquette before posting here again or your messages will be deleted.
While Firefox was a great first home for the toddler and teenager, it was starting to (or eventually will) restrict the young adult.
Comment. I've been using the standalone version for years and very much prefer it to the FF version. Besides being able to choose between browsers, it lets me view my entire Zotero library on one screen and compose or browse on another. (I use 2 screens on desktops and an iPad + laptop when traveling.) But even without multiple screens, switching windows is a snap. It also makes more sense to have the app independent of a particular browser. Those of you who are complaining about the standalone version should try it before you dis it.
Question. I work on three computers: iMac at home, iMac at work, and Macbook Air for traveling. My Zotero library syncs between the 3. PDF attachments to Zotero items reside on a NAS drive at home, and I use Zotfile to manage them. I also use LyZ and BibDesk when writing with LyX.
My question is how best to make the transition to 5.0. For instance, can I upgrade the version on one machine, use it for a few weeks to make sure it's working for me, and then do the two others? Or, are 4.x and 5.0 so incompatible that upgrading one breaks the connectivity to the other two?
Also, given the plugins and auxiliary programs mentioned above, are there any foreseeable issues upgrading to 5.0?
How to upgrade: TAKE A FULL BACKUP. Then, follow 5.0 installation directions. It will offer to move your existing Zotero directory, and if all goes well, you will be up and running in a few minutes.
I am a low-key user of Zotfile and Zutilo and, for my needs, these are working fine in 5.0
Add-ons not working in 5.0 - Google Scholar Citations and Prevent Duplicates