Zotero 7 paper title, author, year missing from top of window

allieblanchette
The Zotero 7 update does not appear to list the title, lead author, or year of the currently open paper at the top of the viewing window anymore. For example, if you have many tabs of papers open and are reading the discussion of a paper and want a quick reminder of the author/year of the paper you are looking at, the older versions listed the paper's relevant info at the top of the viewing window (above the tabs) but v7 does not appear to do that anywhere (unless you toggle in all metadata as an additional column), making the updated user interface much less convenient to use. Am I missing something? Will there be an update to fix this?
  • adamsmith
    That's a setting in the General tab of the Zotero preferences (Screenshot from Zotero 8 beta, but I don't think that has changed)
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u2433/affa2h2v7z4fa8qvs0jy.png
  • dstillman
    edited September 29, 2025
    I think this is referring to there not being a separate title bar on Windows anymore (bringing the design in line with most modern apps). But yes, the title is shown in the tab, and you can hover over the tab to see the full tab title, which is configurable as @adamsmith says.
  • allieblanchette
    edited September 29, 2025
    Yes my concern is that the author/year/title are missing from the top of the viewing window ABOVE the tabs. The tabs get so condensed that having the title there is somewhat useless, and having the full citation written out at the top was very helpful. Here is an example of v6. The hovering feature for v7 makes this a bit better, but still not as effective. Will there be any updates to v7 for restore this aspect of the interface?

    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u5863627/4qbfianjk1tv4ztvjb9l.png

  • adamsmith
    Sorry, yes, I missed that.
    No, not coming back, see dstillman above -- that space just doesn't exist in Zotero anymore (as it doesn't in most other apps on Windows)
  • dstillman
    edited September 29, 2025
    Some apps do have options to restore a title bar in some situations — e.g., in Firefox, you can turn on a title bar explicitly, and in Chrome, you can switch to vertical tabs, which also restores a title bar by default. We could consider options like those if there was sufficient demand, but those aren't the default layouts in those other apps, so the vast majority of people wouldn't be using those and would just have the title in the current tab as in Zotero 7.
  • Docfalcon
    edited 14 days ago
    This is a joke, right? Having a frigging library program with included reader that does not tell you were you are is missing its point: making working with a huge amount of documents EASIER.


    And please, cut the hints for "most apps don't do that anymore" because that is the definition of a Red Herring... even WORD manages to TELL YOU what document you have opened... see how this is an invalid argument?
  • dstillman
    edited 14 days ago
    @Docfalcon:

    1) https://www.zotero.org/support/forum_guidelines#etiquette

    2) As explained above, it does show you the title (and author and year), the exact same way that all modern web browsers do in their default configuration: truncated in the tab or in full in the tooltip if you hover over the tab. I'm not sure why you think the behavior of the program people use most on their computers is irrelevant here. We do exactly the same thing. (In fact, we show more of the title, because we use a larger minimum width for tabs than most browsers.)

    In Zotero, you can also see the full metadata if you open the right-hand pane.
  • Docfalcon
    edited 14 days ago
    1.) I got my reasons for all caps and I stand by them.

    2.) As stated in my comment, I think "the behavior of the program people use most on their computers is irrelevant here" because I am a) not people but me b) not using a browser but a program tailored specifically for scientists and literature buffs and c) this tanget is not becoming less of a red hering just because you want it to be. On the contrary, you made it even worse by selling it to me as "we just follow industry standard"

    3.) You are missing the point of my complaint by ... a lot. I know where you show the titles, those are just not valid points for looking when I have about 50 scientific papers open that tend to sound very familiar in their titles because they are all on one theme and I'm fast-browsing through them with Ctrl+Tab searching for ONE specific paper whose main author is the only thing I remember... cause (luckily!) the displayed PDF does not scroll, so I'm in the middle of a wall of text, similar theme than the other 49 wall of texts I'm trying to parse and your solution is "take the mouse and hover over the tab"???

    Anyhow, did a rollback to 6.0.39 and will not move from there if the title bar is not reintroduced. But thanks for your disrespectful try in blaming me not adapting to the software... (this is the massive disrespect that made GPT 5 a close to unusable mess rather than an improvement)

    if you really wanna help me with my problem: tell me how I can see the title of the PDF I'm reading ATM without using the mouse or leaving the PDF window. Thanks. :)


    EDIT: Got banned for this and the previous post. So be aware, people, that look for help. It is conditional: Always be very nice. Always agree with the Mods and Devs.

  • dstillman
    I got my reasons for all caps and I stand by them.
    OK, then you'll be banned from further posting here. If you can't be civil, go away.
    not using a browser but a program tailored specifically for scientists and literature buffs
    Browsers are tabbed document viewers — the most popular ones that people use, often with dozens or hundreds of tabs open. The point is just we're following their example, so acting as if this is some wild aberration from the norm that merits your shocked tone here is bizarre.
    when I have about 50 scientific papers open that tend to sound very familiar in their titles because they are all on one theme and I'm fast-browsing through them with Ctrl+Tab searching for ONE specific paper whose main author is the only thing I remember
    Use the tabs menu for that.
Sign In or Register to comment.