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Citation Managers: Zotero

Learn more about EndNote, Mendeley and Zotero

About Zotero

Zotero is a free citation manager with both desktop and web versions. It allows unlimited collaboration between users, but does have a smaller amount of storage space available for libraries. Zotero's web bookmarklet allows for quick webpage grabs, and it also imports information from library databases.  There is an extension for Microsoft Word, although the features are more limited than EndNote or Mendeley.

Using Zotero in Google Docs

For detailed instructions on using Zotero in your Google Docs, see Zotero's documentation.

Importing from Mendeley to Zotero

Elsevier, the company that produces Mendeley, is promoting a new version of their product called Mendeley Reference Manager. In September 2022, the previous version − Mendeley Desktop − will no longer be available for download. Due to UMB’s IT security restrictions those who are using a UMB computer − or using Office via their UMB account − will not be able to download the citation tool for Mendeley Reference Manager.

This change could potentially cause problems for UMB campus members who use Mendeley.

To avoid some problems this could cause, you may want to move your citations from Mendeley to Zotero.

To import your Mendeley library and move it to Zotero, follow these steps:

  1. Make sure that all data and files have been synced to Mendeley servers.
    • If you use Mendeley Desktop, check your sync settings to make sure that data and files are being synced, and confirm that you can open PDFs in your online Mendeley library.
    • If you use Mendeley Reference Manager, your data and files are already all online.
  2. Install Zotero 6, which contains the latest version of the importer as well as a new PDF reader that can display PDF annotations imported from Mendeley.
  3. Go to File → Import within Zotero and choose the “Mendeley Reference Manager (online import)” option.

For alternative methods, troubleshooting, and more information visit the Zotero Support page.

Finding Full Text

Zotero will automatically pull PDFs that are openly available online, but you can also connect your Zotero to the HSHSL to get access to the PDFs we pay for. 

  1. Open Zotero
  2. On a PC, navigate to the Tools tab; on a Mac, navigate to the Zotero tab
  3. Under General, look for Advanced
  4. Copy and paste the link resolver into the section for "resolver" 
  5. http://survey.hshsl.umaryland.edu/?url=

How to insert Zotero citations and references into a Word document

Using Zotero for academic writing