An addiction to Google Reader, with subscriptions to a range of scientific journals, has resulted in many folders filled with uncatalogued papers (pdf files). This is in addition to the many existing project folders each with their own set of references. For finding a particular paper, it’s usually easier to google it and download again, but this of course isn’t an option at home or away when you don’t have access to college journal subscriptions. Papers for Mac isn’t an option because I need to use Windows in work.
Zotero has come to the rescue. It realizes the dream of: (i) downloading citation information and pdf files with one click, (ii) the ability to organize citation data and pdfs with as many categories and sub-categories as you wish, (iii) synching everything between computers, regardless of the operating system. And it manages to do all this by being a Firefox plugin, i.e. there no executable to open or install. So far the results have been wonderful. File synching is achieved via my mobileme account, between a work Windows XP machine and my home OS X machines, so never again do I have to worry about finding a pdf or reference while away from my desk. The only hiccup so far is that it doesn’t recognize the citation data from all journals, so sometimes a little manual input is needed.
To use: (i) Install the Firefox plugin. (ii) To open Zotero just click on the icon in the bottom right of the browser window. (iii) When you’re on an article page (see below) a little notebook icon appears in the address bar (top right), click on it and it downloads straight to your database. You are free to organize it as you wish and Zotero disappears as quickly as it opens. (iv) If you want to synch, just go to the Zotero preferences and link to your WebDAV server (this is only available in the beta version for the moment, but seems to work fine).
