Upgrade StorageGrounded Q&A — cross-paper annotation browser, idea layer, and cited Q&A for Zotero 7+
I'd like to share a free, open-source plugin I've been building, Grounded Q&A. It started as a question-answering tool but the latest version adds two features aimed at a problem that comes up often here: annotations being reachable only through the single paper they sit on.
Cross-paper annotation browser
A single library-wide window listing every annotation across your library, rather than one PDF at a time.
Live filtering by colour, tag, keyword, and annotation type, combined.
Export the filtered set with citations — copy as Markdown or HTML, or save as a standalone Zotero note. Each source is cited once in your current Zotero citation style, with its highlights listed beneath.
Click any annotation to open the PDF at that exact location.
Idea layer (Citavi-style)
Promote any annotation into a first-class idea — a regular Zotero note that is independently searchable and taggable.
Tag ideas, link ideas to one another, and link back to the source item via Zotero relations.
Browse the layer in its own tab, so your notes remain reachable independently of the paper they came from.
Grounded Q&A (the original feature)
Ask a question about the paper open in the reader, or across several items selected in your library.
Answers cite every claim with a clickable [Page N] (single) or [Paper N, Page M] (multi) reference that jumps to the exact page in the source PDF. If the text doesn't support an answer, it says so rather than inventing one.
Bring your own model: Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI, DeepSeek, Grok, or a local Ollama server (no API key, nothing leaves your machine). Keys are stored in Zotero's own preferences.
It requires the PDF's text to be indexed (open it in the reader once, or right-click → Reindex Item); image-only scans without OCR won't have extractable text.
Compatibility: Zotero 7 (and 8). License: AGPL-3.0. Source, installation, and full documentation:
https://github.com/birugit/zotero-grounded-qa
Feedback and bug reports are very welcome, particularly on the annotation browser and idea layer, which are new. Note that Q&A with a cloud provider uses your own API key and may incur usage costs; the Ollama option avoids this entirely.
Cross-paper annotation browser
A single library-wide window listing every annotation across your library, rather than one PDF at a time.
Live filtering by colour, tag, keyword, and annotation type, combined.
Export the filtered set with citations — copy as Markdown or HTML, or save as a standalone Zotero note. Each source is cited once in your current Zotero citation style, with its highlights listed beneath.
Click any annotation to open the PDF at that exact location.
Idea layer (Citavi-style)
Promote any annotation into a first-class idea — a regular Zotero note that is independently searchable and taggable.
Tag ideas, link ideas to one another, and link back to the source item via Zotero relations.
Browse the layer in its own tab, so your notes remain reachable independently of the paper they came from.
Grounded Q&A (the original feature)
Ask a question about the paper open in the reader, or across several items selected in your library.
Answers cite every claim with a clickable [Page N] (single) or [Paper N, Page M] (multi) reference that jumps to the exact page in the source PDF. If the text doesn't support an answer, it says so rather than inventing one.
Bring your own model: Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI, DeepSeek, Grok, or a local Ollama server (no API key, nothing leaves your machine). Keys are stored in Zotero's own preferences.
It requires the PDF's text to be indexed (open it in the reader once, or right-click → Reindex Item); image-only scans without OCR won't have extractable text.
Compatibility: Zotero 7 (and 8). License: AGPL-3.0. Source, installation, and full documentation:
https://github.com/birugit/zotero-grounded-qa
Feedback and bug reports are very welcome, particularly on the annotation browser and idea layer, which are new. Note that Q&A with a cloud provider uses your own API key and may incur usage costs; the Ollama option avoids this entirely.
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damnation(Duplicate of https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/132311/new-plugin-grounded-q-a-cited-page-linked-answers-about-your-papers#latest)