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Integrating with Zotero or BibDesk

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Anoop K. Chandran edited this page Nov 14, 2023 · 9 revisions

There are two ways to pull data from Zotero

Pull directly from Zotero

ORM Settings Reference Map will pull data from Zotero. You need a running instance of Zotero to use this option(at least once) and select library you want to use. Once you set it up once Reference Map will cache the data incase Zotero is not running in the future.

If you enable this option even if you have a Library file path set, Reference Map will use the Zotero data.

Important

If the option Auto Detect Updates to Library is turned OFF, any changes to the Library File(.json or .bib) require a manual refresh from the command palette. This option does not affect the Pull directly from Zotero option.

Library file path

Export Zotero Library as CSL JSON file or BibTex file

Reference Map plugin require a CSL JSON file or a BibTeX file to detect the DOI's related to a citekey. This file can be exported from Zotero or BibDesk or from any reference managers that support these two formats(.json and .bib). If Zotero Better Bibtex Plugin is installed on your Zotero, you can export the Better CSL JSON or Better BibTeX file.

  1. Open Zotero
  2. Select the library you want to export
  3. Click on File → Export Library...
  4. Select Better CSL JSON or Better BibTeX as the export format
  5. Check the keep updated option
  6. Click on OK and choose a location to save the file
  7. Click on Save

You have to put the exported .json or .bib file somewhere in your vault.

If you don't have the Better Bibtex plugin installed, you can export the CSL JSON or BibTeX file from Zotero. Since this option doesn't have the keep updated option, you have to export the file again when you add new references to your library.

Export BibDesk Library as BibTex file

BibDesk saves library as a .bib file by default. So you don't have to do anything special to export the library.

If you want to explicity export the library, you can do it by following the steps below.

  1. Open BibDesk
  2. Select the library you want to export
  3. Click on File → Export...
  4. Select BibTeX as the export format
  5. Give file a name and choose a location to save the file
  6. Click on Save

You have to put the exported .bib file somewhere in your vault.

Configure Reference Map Plugin

ORM Settings

  1. Open Settings → Community plugins → Reference Map
  2. Enable Get References Using CiteKey option
  3. Put the CSL JSON or BibTeX file you exported from Zotero or BibDesk.

Important

Path should be relative to your vault root

Note

If you are using the JSON format then Zotero also exports a JSON files for each collection in your library. In order to optimize loading time of the plugin at the startup it is recommended to provide the path to the JSON file to a specific collection you want to use instead of using the whole library with unnecessary data.

If you would like to enable a back link to Zotero, you can enable the Hide or Show Link to show Reference in Zotero option. This will add a link to the Zotero library in the index card in the form of @citekey

If Find CiteKey from ID is enabled, Reference Map will try to find the citekey even if a different type of ID(DOI,URL,etc) is given in the markdown file. This will only work if the document is present in the Zotero library. This is kind of a reverse lookup.

If Process CiteKeys Without @ Prefix is enabled, Reference Map will try to find the citekey even if the citekey is not prefixed with @.

Important

Index cards for a citekey can only be displayed for CSL JSON or BibTeX entries that has a DOI field associated with them. So make sure the reference you have in Zotero has a DOI field associated with it. If you don't have a DOI field, you can add it manually by clicking on the DOI at the info tab in Zotero.

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