Create projects with custom structure

This discussion was created from comments split from: Suggestions for a new built-in Zotero PDF reader.
  • I have one suggestion that I don't know if it's what sdflewrit783 meant or if it would be a new idea:

    Would it be possible to create different projects for which we could assign a custom structure (by chapters for example) and then we could assign each note independently to one or several of such chapters and to several projects?

    Then it would be great to be able to export the notes with the structure that we assigned to each project, by chapters, to a Word document with the corresponding citation and bibliography for each note.

    It would be infinitely useful!

    This way when we read our references we can start writing a draft of our project/article in zotero that we just have to export to word and edit once we have finished reading.
  • Splitting this off, since threads with lots of unrelated suggestions are too hard to follow.

    I'm not totally clear on what you're suggesting, but with the new PDF reader and note editor, you can create a note from annotations or add annotations individually, start writing a draft within Zotero, and then insert the note into a word processor document with active citations for further writing. We're unlikely to add more built-in structure than that. The structure in the note is up to you.
  • edited May 11, 2021
    I will try to explain myself better:

    Currently, for a literature review, I would make a structure in a word document by chapters: 1. introduction, 2. state of the art, 3. main problem, etc.
    I have all the references for such "project "organized in folders and subfolders by topic but they usually don't correspond to only one chapter of the literature review, but to several. So the only way to organize it is using the notes.

    When I read the references for the literature review, I would make one or several notes with a summary of what they talk about, the methodology used, and my personal point of view within Zotero. Then I would take the information from my notes to the different chapters each note corresponds to in Word by hand, one reference at a time (which is time-consuming and not very efficient, as I might not add all my notes to the document by mistake, making me go back to my notes and references multiple times).

    What I am asking for, is some way of doing this automatically, to create the word document at the end, after working on my notes. This would be only possible if there is such structure by projects and chapters in Zotero, so I can assign each of my notes to each of the chapters, and once I finish reading I have ready a full draft from my notes. (This option is already offered by Citavi)

    I think it would be a great possibility in addition to the current functionalities Zotero offers. I really hope you would consider it, but I understand it might be a lot of extra work.

  • edited May 11, 2021
    Then I would take the information from my notes to the different chapters each note corresponds to in Word by hand, one reference at a time
    That's what I'm saying you don't have to do anymore. You can quickly add citations and PDF annotations with citations to Zotero notes, and then use the new Add Note feature of the word processor plugin to insert the entire note into your word processor with active Zotero citations.
  • Yes, I understand, and that's a great improvement!

    But I still have to search among all my notes within the plugin (and it's not easy to see to which reference they correspond to). It would be good to have them already organized beforehand so I could just add all the selected notes (that would correspond to whatever chapters) to the Word document.

    This way I could also work on different projects at the same time. Let's say I am working on a book and an article on the same topic. When I read a reference and add notes, I could assign each note to each of the corresponding chapters of the book and the article at the same time, within Zotero, without needing to have several Word documents open at the same time.

    I really hope to have this functionality and thank you for all the great work!


  • But I still have to search among all my notes within the plugin
    In a future version, it will likely be possible to browse collections, where your notes are presumably already organized, when inserting a note into your word processor document.
  • To be able to have collections of notes organized would be a very good option indeed. But please consider the possibility of adding the collection of notes, organized, in bulk, to a Word document.
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