In file renaming, How can I get number of authors?

danielyang1009 · March 19, 2025

I want to change file renaming rule base on number of authors of the paper. Basically, if one author, just "John_2025_title.pdf", if two authors, "John_Tom_2025_tile.pdf", if three of more authors, then "John et al_2025_title.pdf". I tried following in zotero 7 and it just doesn't works. Please help!

```
{{if creators | length <= 2}}
{{firstCreator replaceFrom=" and " replaceTo="_" suffix="_"}}
{{else}}
{{creators max="1" suffix=" et al_"}}
{{year suffix="_"}}
{{title truncate="100"}}
```

tnajdek · March 20, 2025

There is no built-in method, but you can use regex to do the trick. See: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/482161/#Comment_482161

danielyang1009 · March 22, 2025

thanks a lot! it works!

tnajdek · 2025-04-05T14:38:38+00:00

As of Zotero 7.1 (currently in Beta) it's now possible to check the number of authors without using a regex, your template would look something like this:

{{if creatorsCount <= 2}}
{{firstCreator replaceFrom=" and " replaceTo="_" suffix="_"}}
{{else}}
{{creators max="1" suffix=" et al_"}}
{{year suffix="_"}}
{{title truncate="100"}}