Hyperlinks to bibliography

Philipp.Nuske
Hi,

in my company (engineering consulting and technical reports, several hundred employees) we are looking into introducing zotero.
So far, the feedback (by the test-group) is quite positive. However, people really want the citation to be hyperlinks pointing to the bibliography (and back).

So far, we are using (hand written) numbered lists as bibliography. This way the "citations" are automatically hyperlinks. Alt+left jumps back from the bibliography to the citation.

Is there any way to introduce a feature like this into zotero?

Who do I need to talk to?

thanks a lot in advance
Philipp
  • Philipp.Nuske
    Hi,

    Is there a chance for progress in the direction of hyperlinks to bibliography (and back)?

    I think, this would be a real benefit for the user.

    Would a bounty (https://www.bountysource.com/) help?

    Thanks
    Philipp
  • adamsmith
    Just so I'm understanding the "and back" part correctly -- that's not actually functionality to be implemented, correct? That just relies on the alt-left function working like a browser's back button.

    For the hyperlink functionality, would a well-working Word Macro work, or do you need this fully integrated in Zotero and also working for LibreOffice?
  • Philipp.Nuske
    edited February 25, 2016
    Hi,
    I cannot say how the alt+left thingy works technically. As long as it brings me back to that part of the document, I came from, I am happy. ;-)

    We do not use LibreOffice.

    However, our costumers do not get our word-reports but generated pdf-versions. Would a Word Macro make it into the pdf?
    thanks
    Philipp
  • DWL-SDCA
    I've seen pdf documents where the citation indicator (number or author-date) is a hyperlink to the appropriate item in the reference list. This is actually quite common. I've also seen pdf documents where a click on the reference list item will take you back to where that item was cited in the narrative (if one to one) or, if the item was cited multiple times, to the first instance with the others indicated by marks in the left-side thumbnail bookmarks. I've wondered how the ref list reciprocal links were accomplished/programmed. I guessed that involved doing this link-back by hand during the final editorial production process.
  • adamsmith
    As for PDFs -- that wouldn't matter, the end product is the same. The main downsides of the macro approach would be that it's less tighly integrated in Zotero and would have to be installed separately (by placing a .dotm file into Word's startup folder).
    I think it'd be nice to build this into the word processor add-on itself, but I at least don't have the skills to do that.
  • Philipp.Nuske
    Hi,
    I am not 100% sure what you mean with regards to pdf: With the macro-approach, will there be links in the pdf?
    I agree, inegration into the add-on would be super-nice. However, placing a file somewhere (as long as it does not have to be updated on a weekly basis) sounds also like a working solution.
    Who would I need to talk to for this?
    Thanks
    Philipp
  • Philipp.Nuske
    Hi,
    I am back from vacation and highly motivated to work with Zotero :-)

    Has there been progress on the link-to-bibliography-issue?
    What can I do / Who can I talk to in order to find a solution?

    (We would like the bibliography markers, say [42], to be hyperlinks pointing to the bibliography. By pressing ALT+Left, we would like to jump back from the bibliography to the original position in the document)

    thanks in advance
    Philipp
  • noksagt
    No changes. Some people use a macro in WoRd to create links: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/12431/word-possibility-to-link-references-and-bibliography-in-a-document/
  • adamsmith
    Using that macro would be the place to start. Depending on your needs, it'd require either a lot of just minor modifications to be reliable (e.g. if you're just going to use numerical styles, this will be pretty easy. If you want it to work for all styles, including author-date, it's hard.)

    As for your question above -- yes, the macro approach will transfer to and work in PDFs, too.
  • Philipp.Nuske
    So far, I have not coded any macros. Could someone give me a hint where to start reading?

    Also interesting: Is there someone out there who would do this for money?
  • adamsmith
    Could you answer the question re: how flexible this needs to be with respect to the citation style? Is just numerical OK or does it need to work for author-date and footnotes?
  • Philipp.Nuske
    sorry, for the late reply, I missed your question.

    numerical is totally fine for us! No flexibility at all is needed from our side in that respect.
    Thanks.
  • Philipp.Nuske
    Is there any hope for links on numbers? ;-)
  • adamsmith
    I'll be working on related code shortly, will let you know.
  • Philipp.Nuske
    YES! Looking forward :-)
  • Philipp.Nuske
    Hi,
    me again ;-)
    is there news on the hyperlink-to-bibliography issue?
    thanks
    Philipp
  • G-Radiation
    +1
  • neocc2017
    +1
  • stevan.dinu
    +1
  • Lukas_
    +1
  • lucasbressan
    +1
  • badja
    +1
  • pacifique
    +1
  • tnt306
    +1
  • runejoe
    +1
  • altairwei
    Hello everyone,

    I’ve developed a VBA script called ZoteroLinkCitation, inspired by discussions on this forum about linking in-text citations directly to their bibliography entries in Word documents when using Zotero.

    Features:

    - Currently 15 citation styles are tested in my thesis (>130 references), including APA, IEEE, ACS, Chicago, etc.
    - Detects the citation style used in the document automatically.
    - Maintains Zotero field integrity post-linking.
    - Allows customization of link appearance (color, size, font) in Word.
    - Correctly handles multiple references in the Author-Date style where the first author is the same.

    Project and details here: https://github.com/altairwei/ZoteroLinkCitation

    In this repo I have written a detailed step-by-step guide on how to use Word macros. Requests for supporting other citation styles can be made in the repo issue. I'll be happy to maintain the VBA script on an ongoing basis, as well as answer any questions about its use in repo issues (not in Zotero forum).
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