In the next article we are going to take a look at Zotero. This is a free software desktop research assistant. It will help us collect references, data and information to be processed as bibliography and citations in LibreOffice Writer or Microsoft Word documents. Zotero is available for GNU / Linux, Windows, and macOS. This program can be considered as a alternative to Mendeley and other research assistant programs.
This post we will see how download and install Zotero Bibliography Tool on Ubuntu 18.04 with Firefox 'Quantum' web browser. The new 'Quantum' is the reason why Zotero changed to be a standalone program with its own window outside of Firefox. Next we will see how to integrate it with Firefox and LibreOffice Writer. All the steps are easy for anyone to follow.
When we have the application available, the use process is simple. It all starts collecting. The first step in using Zotero is to collect information and add it to the program's database. This will be done automatically by captures from the reading metadata.
We continue arranging. Once we have added the resources to the library it is important to organize them so that they can be found in the future. For this, the program offers four functionalities: collections, tags, related elements and saved searches.
Zotero can also be used for writing articles or research. It will allow us to cite bibliographic resources within the text, also to create bibliographic references and bibliographies almost automatically by integrating with word processors.
It will offer us the possibility of creating a free user account. This will allow us to synchronize the library of references, notes and attachments. Another interesting possibility is that of to collaborate. We can have the library on a remote server and offer certain social functions such as sharing collections as public or restricted to a group of users. Collaboration groups can be created and collections shared.
DOWNLOAD ZOTERO
To start we will have to go to the project website and Download the latest package for GNU / Linux.
ZOTERO IN UBUNTU
Let unzip the file that we just downloaded. For this example I will do it in my ~ / Downloads folder.
Now we will go to the folder that has just been created. In this we will find files and folders of the Zotero program. We will can launch the program with the file called zotero.desktop.
When we double click on the zotero.desktop file we will have to select "Trust and run" in the dialog box that is displayed.
The Zotero interface will open before us. But before this, an additional dialog about plugin installation will be executed. From here we can install the connector for LibreOffice that we will see later. This second dialog is only optional and can be safely canceled.
INSTALL THE CONNECTOR FOR FIREFOX
To collect data from the Internet, we will use the web browser in data collection for the Zotero database. We need to connect Zotero and our Mozilla Firefox. We will do this in a simple way by installing a add-on called Zotero Connector for Firefox. This you can download from here.
May see all available plugins to work with Zotero and other programs on the project website.
INSTALL THE CONNECTOR FOR LIBREOFFICE
The goal of using Zotero is create citations and bibliographies in a LibreOffice Writer document, in this example. Therefore, we not only need to install the Addon for Firefox. We will also need install the Addon for LibreOffice.
For this installation we open Zotero> Edit> Preferences> Quote> Word processors> Click on the Install Plugin button. Then we just have to follow the dialog box. Here some packages will be downloaded. For this we will need internet access.
A successful installation will cause LibreOffice Writer to display Zotero Toolbar, as you can see in the following screenshot. The buttons on this toolbar connect Writer and Zotero, which means that we can insert citations and references from Zotero in the document that we are writing.
BASIC USE
To use this program we will only have to navigate to a website with Firefox and press the Save button in Zotero. After the click, the url of the website and all its metadata will be copied to the program. To include other reference data, we will only have to repeat the process. Then we will be able to use the buttons that we now have in Libre Office to complete our documents.
These actions are only possible if we have installed both the Zotero program and Firefox with its connector, all working at the same time.
Hello. Congratulations on the good website, I have installed Zotero 5.0.95 and libreoffice 7.0 and the zotero tolbar appears but as text, but not the icons. Could this problem be solved?
Thank you very much