Announcing the Zotero 7 Beta

edited September 5, 2023
We're excited to announce the availability of the beta version of Zotero 7, the next major version of Zotero.

Zotero 7 includes a massive architectural upgrade of Zotero's underlying code, bringing major performance gains, better OS compatibility, native support for Apple Silicon Macs, a 64-bit Windows build for better handling of large libraries and files, and improved PDF handling. This update lays the groundwork for much more regular performance and OS-integration improvements going forward.

While we've added a few new features for this first beta, the primary focus in Zotero 7 so far has been on performance and modernization of the Zotero codebase. New features get added throughout Zotero's release cycle, so if there's a feature you're waiting for, don't worry if you don't see it in this beta — that doesn't mean you'll need to wait for Zotero 8!

Given the extent of the technical changes, this initial beta may be a bit rougher than other Zotero beta builds, so while we're not aware of any major bugs or risk of data loss, we'd recommend holding off if you're in the middle of a project. Additionally, all Zotero plugins have needed to be rewritten to support the new version, so if you rely on third-party plugins, you should check with the plugin developers regarding Zotero 7 compatibility before upgrading.

That said, Zotero 7 doesn't currently make any database upgrades, so you should be able to switch back and forth between Zotero 6 and 7 without problems.

Installation

You can install the beta from the Beta Builds page. If you're currently running the Zotero 6 beta, you can also update from Help → "Check for Updates…". (We're not yet offering the beta to existing beta users who don't manually check for updates.)

If you're using Windows, we recommend reinstalling from the Beta Builds page rather than using "Check for Updates…", as the in-app updater will not currently upgrade the 32-bit build to the 64-bit build. Your data won't be affected either way.

If you're using an Apple Silicon Mac and upgrade from the Zotero 6 beta, Zotero 7 will continue to run under Rosetta immediately after updating, so restart it for native performance.

Reporting Problems

Please start new threads for any problems you encounter in the beta, and be sure to put "Zotero 7 Beta" in the thread title.

Thanks for helping to test Zotero 7!
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  • Great news!
  • Feels nice and zippy, congratulations!
    While we've added a few new features for this first beta
    Out of curiosity -- is there a beta changelog or is the commit log currently the only way to get at these?
  • Exciting! No breaking changes with Group Web Library syncing, then? I'm hoping to be able to continue using Zotero 6 for a significant period of time while we test out and transition to the new version once it hits final release.
  • edited May 23, 2023
    @adamsmith: Working on a changelog.

    @ddruelin: You'll be able to continue syncing Zotero 6 for a significant period of time. New features will definitely be added to Zotero 7 — if not before 7.0.0 than soon after — that will create data that won't sync with Zotero 6 clients, though.
  • amazing news! I've just started using and it feels a lot faster and smoother. Nice job! There's a few news to be ported in transifex for translation (like "capitalize" for authors), looking forward to work on them
  • edited May 23, 2023
    Cool, congratulations! Waiting to Better BibTex support to test: https://github.com/retorquere/zotero-better-bibtex/discussions/2458
  • It was incredible! Can't wait for the release and hope that there will be an additional Link in-text citations to the bibliography feature
  • edited May 24, 2023
    THANK YOU for adding better code visualisation in the Style Editor in Zotero7! Game changer and will make it much easier giving support as well as developing styles. It looks just like NP++ which I use.
  • Wow, for a second I was worried that all the work I put in my new LaunchBar action was pointless. I'm glad, the database is still the same. I just hope for the zotero://select/library/items/ to work again so I can test it some more.
  • Great news! Is there a timeline for release?
  • @damnation: More to come :) We have a PR pending to add inline error highlighting!
  • Thank you for your great jobs! The interface looks much clearer and responds faster on my MacOS M1.
  • Great work. Thank you.
  • Wow, fantastic news! Can we run v6 and v7b in parallel, as two separate installations?
  • @Zorozero: That hasn't changed — you can always have separate copies of Zotero.

    On Windows, you can use the ZIP. See the note on the beta page.
  • This version is really fast. I love it. But a lot of plugins are not working with this version. May need time to wait for the developers of these plugins to release a new version.
  • Amazing...So the version number will directly jump to 7 from 6.0.xx? No minor version for 6?
  • Correct, yes
  • I never thought I would be so excited by a citation manager version upgrade. I'm an M1 Mac user and a heavy Zotero user and had resolved to restarting whenever VM usage went above my available internal memory. Memory usage is much more efficient and I was able to pick up where I left off in version 6. Bravo!
  • I upgraded to version 7 beta and none of my plugins work — Zotfile, Zutilo, Better BibTex. How do I revert to v. 6?
  • You can just reinstall Zotero 6.
  • Great; thanks!
  • Exciting news! Before giving it a go, just want to confirm that sync is working in the version 7 beta? I'm assuming so; otherwise it'll be harder to give it a proper run.
  • @klpenner you could just install Zotero 6 and Zotero 7 side by side (the only downside of this solution is a need of manually enabling plugins and restarting when switching back to zotero 6)
  • Hi

    the news about the plugins is particularly troubling, especially as zotfile is no longer actively being developed. :-(

    But I'm looking forward to seeing what the new features are, as they roll out. :-). is there any chance you're taking feature requests? is there a preferred way to make such requests? or is the time for that past?
  • As noted above, features happen continuously, not necessarily all during a specific major version. Feature requests should go in individual threads, ideally after having spent some time searching the forums -- most things have been requested (often multiple times) in the past already.
  • Are there any plans to incorporate the key features of Zotfile into the new Zotero 7? It seems to me that Zotfile was providing basic functionality for most users ... it was not a specialist plugin. In fact it seems its features really should be a part of Zotero anyways. I won't miss the plugin if the features are now incorporated into Zotero 7.
  • edited July 3, 2023
    better bibtex is closing in on a working Z7 version. As far as I can tell, it will be days, not weeks. Updates on https://github.com/retorquere/zotero-better-bibtex/issues/2522
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