Best way to import a CSV File.

vnsgummadi
Hello everyone,

I have exported a collection in Zotero into a CSV file to perform data analysis. So, now I have completed all the analysis and updated the CSV file. I want to delete the existing collection and import the updated CSV file into Zotero. But, as Zotero doesn't support importing CSV files directly, is there any easy way to convert that CSV into any other file type that Zotero accepts and import it as a collection?
  • emilianoeheyns
    RIS will be the easiest format to convert to. Note that if you delete and recreate, existing documents that refer to these items will have broken references.
  • vnsgummadi
    Is there any tool that can convert from csv to RIS, without changing the format ?
    And also, could you please explain this clearly - "Note that if you delete and recreate, existing documents that refer to these items will have broken references."
  • emilianoeheyns
    There are several tools that do the conversion (Google for "excel to ris", but you'll likely always have to tweak either the input csv or the tool itself. CSV isn't a structured bibliography file format so these tools always have built in assumptions about the input. If you want something that rountrips export-import cleanly, you'll need to use something else than csv.

    For the 2nd part - if you have a Word file that uses (references) one of these items from your zotero library, those references will give you errors after you delete them from Zotero. Export-import doesn't augment your existing zotero data, it deletes existing and adds (not replaces) entirely unconnected new ones. Merge rather than delete will keep the references intact, but it's more work.
  • sklein3
    I wish that Zotero natively supported this import option especially since they support exporting of CSV. I would love to suggest to students that they can export in bulk, run find and replace to modify their metadata and then reimport the same CSV.
  • emilianoeheyns
    edited today at 12:02am
    CSV cannot cleanly contain the Zotero data, which is nested (1 item can have multiple creators, tags, attachments, notes) and so it cannot be cleanly imported back.

    RIS is plain text and is a very simple format, your students can bulk export, search and replace, and import, as long as it stays plaintext. On Windows, that means search and replace in something like notepad, not Word. On MacOS, TextEdit in plain text mode (which is not the default), or CotEditor.
  • aborel
    edited today at 5:05am
    "export, find and replace & reimport": this could be done very easily with RIS, CSV is not necessary for that.
    However, it is not a great idea because the imported record will not replace the old ones, so you'd have many near-duplicates to merge after that - see https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/exporting which explains why an export is not a proper backup.
  • emilianoeheyns
    He was planning to delete the old ones before reimport, but that has its own problems.
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