Line-break problem importing RIS notes

AnnFran · March 1, 2010

I am trying to make the switch from Biblioscape to Zotero via RIS. I'm getting various problems ironed out, but I am now stymied by the fact that the carriage returns (line breaks) are stripped out of my notes upon import. This is obviously a serious problem for someone with a big database of notes, and it has come up in various threads. One discussion (http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/4248/importing-endnote-notes-field/) suggests that this is a bug that has been fixed. But I am working with a totally up-to-date (including translators) version of Zotero, and I am still having no luck.
Any advice?

adamsmith · March 1, 2010

did you check how this looks in your RIS file?
Also, note that this is slightly more tricky than an actual bug, because the official RIS specification doesn't really address CRs...

AnnFran · March 2, 2010

Sorry. "Bug" was the wrong word. I realize that Zotero has tried to tweak a format that isn't very cooperative.

And yes. I have checked my RIS files. In fact, I've been editing them very extensively to get my complex database (around 7500 entries, many with notes) from Biblioscape to Zotero in useful shape. After much searching in the forums, some fiddling with Biblioscape export formats (not well documented), and some crafty conversion of the resulting RTF files into RIS format, I can successfully import various kinds of references with attached notes. (When I'm done, I'll post a description of my precise steps for anyone else who might be in this predicament.) The notes all separate nicely into separate cards, exactly where they should be. But the line breaks are gone. Using Word, I can see that the notes are full of hard line breaks, which is what I would like to preserve. Any ideas?

AnnFran · March 17, 2010

I heard rumors that you guys are very busy at the moment, so I went about solving the problem by myself. Following advice in another thread, I downgraded Firefox (to 3.0.18) and Zotero (to 1.0.10), imported all references and notes, and then upgraded. The line breaks were preserved. It would be nice if the original tweak that someone introduced to the RIS translator could be reproduced in the current version. But the workaround did not prove to be a big deal. I will post a description of the steps that I took to get from Biblioscape to Zotero in a separate thread.