The next major version of Zotero will run natively on Apple Silicon, yes, but I'm not sure what you mean by "very laggy" — given the speed of Apple Silicon Macs, Zotero still runs faster than it did on any Intel Mac before.
Do you mean zotero7? I don't use zotero on Intel Mac, but there is a huge gap between the experience of M1 and Windows. I am eager to support M1 natively. Thank you for such a great work.
In general, Zotero should run as fast on an M1 Mac, even under Rosetta, as it does on Windows — possibly even faster. Apple Silicon Macs are just very fast.
But if you're referring to Word integration specifically, Word for Mac integration is unfortunately just much slower than Word for Windows. Improving that will depend on some changes in Word, but we're working with Microsoft to make that happen.
In any case, yes, Zotero 7 will run natively on Apple Silicon.
Thanks @adamsmith. I think I read elsewhere someone saying there was a developer version of Zotero—I presume Zotero 6—currently working in-house. Since Zotero 6 won't be running natively on M1, I guess this means there are issues left to resolve before a full-fledged version can run on Apple Silicon natively and without needing Rosetta. Given that approximately five years passed between Zotero 5 and Zotero 6, I suppose this means a native version is still a fair few years away?
Many thanks to the swift development! I am a Macbook pro M1 user and currently enjoying the Zotero (6.0.19-beta.3+89bc09469). Generally speaking there is no major flaw that prevented a good experience in the daily use, but the pdf viewer do worked a little bit laggy when sliding the view up and down by the touchpad, comparing with the third-party pdf viewers like the Preview in the MacOS.
> It will be in beta in a few months. Checking in to see if there's a release date yet for the zotero 7 beta. (The builds website https://www.zotero.org/support/beta_builds is still serving builds from the Zotero 6 development line.)
Looking forward to trying out the apple silicon native version, and many thanks to the contributors for all that you do!
@leahperl: No release date or betas yet, but we provided a development version of Zotero 7 to plugin developers in September in preparation for a public beta in the coming months.
Setting up my Macbook M2 today, I can see that the Beta is for Zotero 7. Installing the standard beta will now support M1 and M2. (No need to install the alpha dev build)
Upgrade Storage
But if you're referring to Word integration specifically, Word for Mac integration is unfortunately just much slower than Word for Windows. Improving that will depend on some changes in Word, but we're working with Microsoft to make that happen.
In any case, yes, Zotero 7 will run natively on Apple Silicon.
Does this mean that there won't be an M1-native version of Zotero 6?
Checking in to see if there's a release date yet for the zotero 7 beta. (The builds website https://www.zotero.org/support/beta_builds is still serving builds from the Zotero 6 development line.)
Looking forward to trying out the apple silicon native version, and many thanks to the contributors for all that you do!
More info about zotero 7. It's coming in 2023. Do not use the dev builds unless you are a dev.
Installing the standard beta will now support M1 and M2.
(No need to install the alpha dev build)
You can download the beta here:
https://www.zotero.org/support/beta_builds