how to preview papers in Zotero?

tararobinson1 · June 23, 2020

I used to use Papers and loved it, but switched to Zotero due to cost. I am having trouble figuring out if there is a way I can preview a PDF in Zotero so I can read the abstract of a paper without opening up the whole file. There must be a way to do that and I am just missing it, can anyone help me out please? Thanks in advance!

dstillman · June 23, 2020

The Abstract is often available in the right-hand pane — you can click on the Abstract label to expand it when it's collapsed — but you can also try the QuickLook extension:

https://www.zotero.org/support/plugins#interface_tools

DonnaCoxBaker · June 24, 2020

Hi, Dan. I am trying to install the ZoteroQuickLook add-on, but it says to install zoteroquicklook.xpi--a file I can't find. I tried to load the zip file in Releases, but it says my version of Zotero is not compatible. Any ideas what I might be doing wrong?

bwiernik · June 24, 2020

Download the .zoteroplugin file from here: https://github.com/mronkko/ZoteroQuickLook/releases/latest

DonnaCoxBaker · June 24, 2020

Thanks, bwiernik. I had tried that, but hit a snag when Zotero filtered for add-ons with .xpi, .jar, and .zip extensions. This time, I put in "*.*" and got Zotero to load it. And it shows in my right-click menu. But it's not opening QuickLook for Windows, which I've installed on my laptop. So there is still a piece missing. What mighy that be?

bwiernik · June 25, 2020

Just drag and drop the plugin file into the Add-Ons window.

DonnaCoxBaker · June 25, 2020

Thanks. I got it installed. It's showing on the right-click menu. It's just not doing anything.

bwiernik · June 25, 2020

The keyboard shortcut is spacebar.

Are you on Mac or Windows? On Windows, you also need to install a program to handle QuickLook on your system: https://github.com/mronkko/ZoteroQuickLook#installing-on-windows

qqbb · June 25, 2020

@DonnaCoxBaker: Did you try to hit the spacebar directly on a PDF attachment?

There's an issue for parent items with a problematic child note, see here:
https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/83861/zoteroquicklook-improvements