Generate Report from Entire Library

bgoodfellow
Like many Zotero users, I have "My Library" broken down into many "collections". I really like the feature where I can right click on one of these collections and choose "Generate Report from Collection" and Zotero creates an HTML file with all the information it has collected on my references. However, I haven't found a way to perform the same task on my entire library. When I right click on "My Library" there is not an option to generate a report.

Basically, I am looking for a super simple way to back up all my references. Once in a while I do a full back up of zotero which involves coping zotero's folder system (~10GB in my case; including attached PDFs). However, it is impractical for me to do that very often and to update that on the other computers that I use.

The "Generate Report" feature seems perfect for this. If I was able to generate the report for my entire library, then all of my reference information would be saved in one relatively small HTML file. If needed, I could easily use that file to regenerate all or part of my library (if something were to happen to the library on my primary computer) and I could use that file when using other computers (i.e. when traveling) to look up specific references in my library.

Does anyone know how to generate such a report of the entire library? It would be time prohibitive for me to generate a report of each of my collections every time I wanted a streamlined backup.
  • adamsmith
    I'd really recommend to use some external hard-disk with syncing for back-up (any new external disk you buy comes with software for that - mac and linux have it built in anyway), but be it as it may:

    click on my library, then go to the middle panel, select all (ctrl+a) then right click --> Generate Report from selected items.
  • bgoodfellow
    Thanks. That does export all the references in my library but they are not organized into the collections. Is there any way to do that? Seems like it might be a simple modification to the "generate report" command. If this was possible, I could upload that HTML file to a web server and access it from any computer with an internet connection (or even a cell phone).

    So is it possible to generate an HTML file with all the references in my library organized into the collections?
  • adamsmith
    no, it's not - that's also not really how collections are designed: since an item can be in multiple collections, this would (potentially) give you multiple reports of the same item -

    but syncing to the Zotero server gives you all your items, sorted into collections, online and downloadable -
    http://www.zotero.org/support/sync
    right now the ways in which you can access them is still relatively basic, but especially as a back-up of your data it's ideal.
  • bta2001
    I would second the interest in being able to generate a report with references organized into collections and sub-collections. As I have now built various subcollections into my library, it would be helpful to see it all at once in HTML format and with the directory tree present
  • baidarkabob
    I third the interest in being able to generate a report with references organized into collections and sub-collections. This would be a great way to create an annotated outline. if anyone knows a workaround for this affect I would love to hear about it.

    b
  • jtibbetts
    I would like to add to this concept the idea of adding the attachment text to the report. I have a user that does this in word and filters through his sources in a huge document. It seems like this would be just as easy to do in Zotero with the generated report. Is there an API call for the attachment? I didn't see one.
  • dstillman
    edited March 23, 2012
    jtibbetts: What does "attachment text" mean?
  • jtibbetts
    The attachement is the snapshot of the page captured
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