RTF/ODF Scan for Zotero

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  • I am trying to use Zotero and Scrivener for my PhD.
    I need the odf-scan plugin
    I tried to get it from https://github.com/Juris-M/zotero-odf-scan-plugin/releases/tag/v2.0.39
    It seems that it does not work with my version of zotero 7.0

    May you help me ?!

    Many thanks
  • Zotero 7 is in beta. The add-on isn't currently compatible and while we'd like to make it compatible, we won't promise that it will be by the time of Z7's official release.
  • Hello,
    Thank you so much for developing this add on--I am trying to use Zotero in Scrivener. I have followed this guide: https://zotero-odf-scan.github.io/zotero-odf-scan/

    However, when I go to Preferences> Export within Zotero, I cannot find a "Scannable Cite" option. Does this indicate that I failed to follow one of the steps appropriately?

    I am using Zotero 6.0.36.
    Thank you!
  • @erinice chances are you are hitting the problem with the instructions mentioned below - that is, that the Scannable Cite.js file must be installed in the Zotero\translators directory, not the data directory as stated.
    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/448191/#Comment_448191


  • Is there any word on Z7 compatibility? RTF/ODF Scan is important for our workflow, so we are happy to wait as long as it takes...

    and thanks as ever for the very useful tool.

  • Unfortunately not, no -- I still would really like to port this, but can make unfortunately not make any promises at this time and I don't think fbennett, who originally wrote the code, has time.
  • How much of a software bounty would we have to get together to inspire some intrepid person to update the extension? I imagine there are a number of people in the Zotero community who would be happy to chip in!
  • @emilianoeheyns would you be interested in helping out on this if some people mobilize a bounty? For me this is a time not a $ question, but I'm happy to test & merge and update.
  • I am using Scrivener and Zotero, and I am VERY interested in Zotero 7. Once again, you have done some amazing work!

    As I can clearly not upgrade until RTF/ODF scan is accessible, I am also very interested in following this thread...
  • This is already a bootstrapped plugin. I will have a look, but I don't have much time either (and still a few plugins of my own on the backlog).
  • Could we have an update on the obstacles for getting Zotero and Scrivener to work together more smoothly in an RTF Scan workflow? There seems to be some bad blood between the development teams obstructing a more elegant solution.
  • edited September 9, 2024
    @whuber RTF Scan is a generic Zotero feature, and I am not aware of any barriers to it working with Scrivener in Zotero v7.
    https://www.zotero.org/support/rtf_scan

    I'm sure that you did actually mean the RTF/ODF Scan plugin. But it's probably useful to remind people of RTF Scan anyway (albeit a little more limited). ;)
  • I've been led to believe that there are ways to do more robust citation which allows for things like page numbers, etc., in Scrivener that works for other citation managers, but not for Zotero. As I'm barely smart enough to do what I do (if that), I have limited cognitive bandwidth to delve into much further, but I would be deeply grateful for a State of Things summary of Zotero 7/Scrivener integration from someone with more knowledge about it. I use Scrivener for a lot of writing (including course planning) but often felt like I was juggling chainsaws getting it to work with Zotero.
  • There seems to be some bad blood between the development teams obstructing a more elegant solution.
    No idea what this refers to. To my knowledge the author of the RTF/ODF Scan plugin just has severely limited time available.
    Could we have an update on the obstacles for getting Zotero and Scrivener to work together more smoothly in an RTF Scan workflow?
    The main obstacle is that Scrivener has zero interest in facilitating this in even the simplest way possible, so whatever is put in place on the Zotero side will always be an inelegant bodge.
    I've been led to believe that there are ways to do more robust citation which allows for things like page numbers, etc., in Scrivener that works for other citation managers, but not for Zotero
    As far as I know the situation is the same for all reference managers. L&L has no interest.

    I will look into RTF/ODF scan when I can, but I don't anticipate having time before the weekend, quote possibly later.
  • I think what I am trying to wrap my head around is Scrivener's not facilitating it in even the simplest way possible: what would that facilitation look like? (I happen to have just moved to Cornwall UK, where L&L are based: perhaps this is just one trip to the pub away from resolution!)
  • Allowing to paste back text at the cursor position would be the simplest thing that would make a massive difference for usability and robustness.

    Then there's lots of stuff they could do to make academic writing easier that have nothing to do with Zotero directly, eg https://iandol.github.io/scrivomatic
  • So my understanding of how other reference managers work in Scrivener is that they do a version of RTF Scan (or ODF Scan) that can be triggered from Scrivener directly. The "triggering from Scrivener directly" is a pretty minor part, imo, but having a robust scan solution natively obviously is -- when Frank and (though I did much less work) I put together ODF Scan, we felt RTF Scan wasn't robust enough, especially because the citation markers weren't reliably enough (hence the zu:... syntax). Once Zotero gets native citation keys across the board (they're planned and already included in new item types like Preprint), I think it would be easier (and imo should be a priority of the core dev team) to re-envision RTF Scan -- built, I'd imagine, with pandoc citation syntax -- that works just like Endnote integration in Scrivener does, i.e. with a citation placeholder.
  • Thanks, something like this was my impression. I'd been trying to configure a local markdown / pandoc-based workflow, but to be honest my actual subject matter tends to monopolise the part of my brain which would otherwise figure out how to insert and format extended markdown citation tags.
  • I've started the work here. Curious people can follow there. DO NOT post "+1" comments there.
  • I'm not sure you'd end up with something substantially different than what ODF scan does. Citation keys, unless generated and enforced by Zotero without user influence, are not guaranteed to be unique, and you need some format to indicate what should be considered the prefix, locator, etc.

    With drag and drop you also won't be able to drag in stuff like RTF hyperlinks (which would allow hiding the technical key) because it will be treated as plaintext. If Scrivener had proper integrations, so much more could be done (says I, a staunch vi user).
  • Just adding to the demand for the plugin to continue to work.

    2 years without necessary maintenance is great, but now there are a lot of people who rely on this workflow - especially with scrivener. Let us know what the community can do to help.
  • It has a lot of Zotero 6 assumptions. I've started the work, but I have to figure out what the code means to do to re-create it for 7. It's not just a "change the loading process" job.
  • This is a great plugin for all the people, who use one of the many word-processors instead of Microsoft Word.

    Two ideas:
    1. Maybe it could also work with RTF-files (like its name suggests), to support more apps without file-conversions.

    2. Because the integration in word-processors is such a basic feature, maybe this could be implemented in Zotero as a core-feature. This would also keep it up-to-date with every new version.
  • @tim820, I'm trying RTF scan right now and I get zero mapped, unmapped or ambiguous references in my file with dozens of them.

    I have to convert the RTF to ODF then use that scanner. it's not ideal.
  • edited September 28, 2024
    @Fe2_O3 what Zotero version and OS ?

    RTF Scan is working for me in Zotero v6 in Windows 10 (I don't have my Zotero v7 computer with me), and there are only a few things I've seen that can upset it.

    Make sure your RTF input file and any file with the same name as the output file are not open in another program when you ask Zotero to process them.

    If Windows, can you open the input RTF file in Wordpad ? (a test that the RTF format is OK). Opening it in a text editor would show the RTF header etc.

    Can you paste some of your plain text citations here to check their format ?

  • Zotero v6 in Mac, should have clarified. Files aren't open, and the RTFs are pristine in TextEdit and LibreOfffice.
  • The next step would be to provide the exact steps to replicate the problem, so Zotero devs can test it themselves on that platform ... some example text citations you added, the software you used and the place you saved the input RTF file (save to desktop would probably be the most reproducible) and how you specified the output RTF file, etc.
    https://www.zotero.org/support/reporting_problems#provide_steps_to_reproduce
  • Thanks a lot, I'm new to this software and to this problem. Had been figuring it wasn't worth doing that because of the work begun to make it compatible with 7. was kinda waiting for that to flesh out a little before possibly diving into that problem to help others working to fix it. but if you think it might help draw their attention to resolving this in 7 for everyone, I'll definitely do it.
  • edited 23 days ago
    I have a temporary solution

    **How to proceed when RTF/ODF-Scan for Zotero cannot be used (using Better BibTeX) with Zotero and Scrivener?**

    https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/7363058303
    I have written the solution at this web address. Please translate it yourself if needed.
    **I simply cannot give up the fluid feeling of fragment completion in Scrivener or when submitting SCI manuscripts using LaTeX. I might only need a week of writing time, while others might take a month. Our thinking abilities are the same; it's just the tools that are different.**
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