Add PMIDs automatically and search Zotero library by PMID?

I am trying to search my Zotero library by PMID to identify publications and cannot work out how to do this.

I have received a document from a colleague where the to-be-cited papers are referred to by PMID e.g., Previous research has shown XYA (PMID: 1234567).

My task is now to insert the references into the document from my existing Zotero library of around 400 records.

The papers are (almost) all already in my library so I am not trying to ADD them from PubMed or wherever, just FIND them.

I have two questions:

1. I imported most of the papers via DOI, so PMIDs are missing for many. Is there a way to automatically fetch the PMIDs and add them to the records?

2. Once I have the PMIDs, how can I search for them within my library?
- Pasting the PMID into the search bar at the top right does not work, even when the PMID is listed in the "Extra" field
- Clicking "add citation" in Word and then searching by PMID also does not work.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions!



  • 1. I imported most of the papers via DOI, so PMIDs are missing for many. Is there a way to automatically fetch the PMIDs and add them to the records?
    See if the Zotero-PMCID-Catcher plugin helps (it helps with missing PMID/PMCIDs as long as you have DOIs, I believe):
    https://github.com/retorquere/zotero-pmcid-fetcher
    - Pasting the PMID into the search bar at the top right does not work, even when the PMID is listed in the "Extra" field
    In the search bar, click on the little arrowhead on the left, and choose Everything mode for the search for one PMID. Then the PMID search may work.
    - Clicking "add citation" in Word and then searching by PMID also does not work.
    If you search and select the item in the Zotero app, the selected item will be at the top of your list when you "Add Citation" in word. Not what you want, but still useful.
  • As a tip to make this a bit faster, bind a shortcut in Word for inserting Zotero citations. That makes that a bit faster. I have CTRL+D set for that. That opens the red citation bar for you, then you can type straight away.
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