Zotenote

Zotenote is an extension for VSCode that enables easy creation of literature notes from Zotero library entries.

Features

Zotenote allows you to configure a literature note template, or just use the default one. Then, run Make literature notes from Zotero from the Command Palette to view a Zotero citations picker dialogue. Type the name of the literature you'd like to create a note for, then press Enter to select. You can select multiple entries. Once you're done, press Enter again to create the notes and have them displayed in the editor:

screenrecord.mp4

Requirements

Zotenote requires the Better BibTex extension for Zotero. Zotero must also be opened on your local machine running VSCode in order to create new literature notes.

Extension Settings

This extension contributes the following settings:

• zotenote.templateFile: The literature note template file, relative to the workspace.
• zotenote.destination: The directory in which to save literature notes, relative to the workspace.

Template file format

There are two ways of including bibliographic information in the template file, which I will refer to as replacement fields (because they're replaced in the formatted literature note file):

• ${attribute:} will be replaced with attribute: <the bibliographic attribute>.
• ${attribute} will be replaced with <the bibliographic attribute>.

If the attribute is missing from the imported data, the replacement field is removed. If its on its own line, the line will be deleted.

Valid attributes are any Better BibTex CSLJSON field, plus some special convenience attributes:

• ${author} or ${authors} produces a space-separated list of the authors.
• ${date} produces the date in YYYY-MM-DD format.

You can see an example of the attributes available by selecting an item in Zotero, Right Click > Export, then choose Format: Better CSL JSON. The resulting file will look something like this:

[{
  "id": "schwenkerConstructingSelfLabeledMaterials2020",
  "abstract": "//static.cambridge.org/content/id/urn%3Acambridge.org%3Aid%3Aarticle%3AS1431927620023806/resource/name/firstPage-S1431927620023806a.jpg",
  "accessed": {
    "date-parts": [
      [2020, 12, 4]
    ]
  },
  "author": [{
    "family": "Schwenker",
    "given": "Eric"
  }, {
    "family": "Jiang",
    "given": "Weixin"
  }, {
    "family": "Spreadbury",
    "given": "Trevor"
  }, {
    "family": "O'Brien",
    "given": "Sarah"
  }, {
    "family": "Ferrier",
    "given": "Nicola"
  }, {
    "family": "Cossairt",
    "given": "Oliver"
  }, {
    "family": "Chan",
    "given": "Maria"
  }],
  "container-title": "Microscopy and Microanalysis",
  "DOI": "10.1017/S1431927620023806",
  "ISSN": "1431-9276, 1435-8115",
  "issue": "S2",
  "issued": {
    "date-parts": [
      [2020, 8]
    ]
  },
  "language": "en",
  "page": "3096-3097",
  "publisher": "Cambridge University Press",
  "source": "Cambridge University Press",
  "title": "Constructing Self-Labeled Materials Imaging Datasets from Open Access Scientific Journals with EXSCLAIM!",
  "type": "article-journal",
  "URL": "https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/microscopy-and-microanalysis/article/constructing-selflabeled-materials-imaging-datasets-from-open-access-scientific-journals-with-exsclaim/7549DC118103BEA2591447961289D23E#article",
  "volume": "26"
}]

The format of each entry in this format is "attribute": value, and the attribute (sans quotes) is what should be used in the replacement field. Note that the attribute is case sensitive: ${DOI} will work, but ${doi} will not.

Release Notes

1.0.0

Initial release of Zotenote, with customisable templates.

1.0.1

Added templating guide to README.