Zotero for research

emma.mires-richards
Hello,

I have some advanced queries from a user that I would like some help with:
1. Synching between an e-reader and Zotero, via Dropbox. I have spent hours trying to get this working, and it ‘sort of’ works now but not really (eg it doesn’t seem to save my annotations on the ereader back to the Zotero file). If it helps, I have a Onyx Boox Max Lumi 2.
2. Sort of the same thing, but I’d like to know more about the best notetaking and annotation workflow for Zotero, including with shared libraries (I’ll be working closely with a postdoc and other coolaborators). I see this seems to usually involve other apps and I’m a bit daunted! What I’ve worked out not only doesn’t really work, but might not be the best workflow even if it did.
3. Embedding a Zotero bibliography on a website so people can see the project’s key bibliography / resources.

Any advice or guidance on this would be great!
  • adamsmith
    edited October 31, 2022
    1. There's no ideal workflow, but the two standard options would be to either use ZotFile to link all files to a Dropbox synced folder or to use ZotFile's "Send to Tablet" function to send to a syncing Dropbox folder and then retrieve the item. ZotFile isn't super actively maintained, so I don't have

    2. For most people who aren't into super serious note-taking workflows (like Obsidian, Roam, etc, which doesn't seem to be you), just doing everything within Zotero, i.e. Zotero PDF annotations, Zotero Notes, is going to work great.

    3. Depends on what you want: there are a couple of tools that will automatically display a given Collection etc. on a website, most prominently ZotPress for Wordpess. That said, if you just want to semi-regularly update your project homepage with recent publication, just keeping them in a collection and then using right-click --> Create Bibliography, set it to your preferred citation style & HTML works very nicely with less set-up and potential compatibility issues. It's what I do for my CV and for our group's publication page.
  • rhysie21
    1. I use the Onyx Boox Note 3, and the ZotFile method mentioned above, with a Microsoft OneDrive account. It works without any problem, you just need to "Get from Tablet" when you're jumping back to PC. Most every PDF tool should work, I use the PDF app called "Xodo" as I find it gives the best viewing/editing experience on my tablet and opens OneDrive well.
    2. I have recommended to someone else to install the plug-in BetterNotes, that adds a few extra features to the Zotero note-taking experience. You will still need to get an idea of the MarkUp system, but you can have notes-within-notes hierarchically-organised, as well as interlinking pages. I find it very useful, but I don't keep extensive notes in Zotero because it's missing a few essential features. I use OneNote otherwise because it's flexible and pretty, but looking to move to an open-source MarkUp system like Joplin, Zettlr or otherwise to ensure my content is flexible and future-proofed.
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