Import from Zotero

If your references live in Zotero, you can bring them into your Papero library with a Zotero API key. Papero reads your library, shows you what it found, and adds each item as a source you can cite.

An import is a one-time copy. Import again to bring over papers you add in Zotero later. Sources already in your library are not added twice.

Before you start

You need a Zotero API key that can read your library.

1. Go to zotero.org/settings/keys and sign in to Zotero.
2. Create a new private key with read access to your library, and nothing more.
3. Copy the key.

You also need a confirmed email address in Papero.

Import your library

1. In the sidebar, press Library.
2. Press Import, then From Zotero. The Import from Zotero dialog opens.
3. Paste your key into Zotero API key.
4. Leave Remember my key for next time ticked to import again later in one click, or untick it.
5. Press Read my library.
6. Check the preview. For a large library it shows the first page and says how many items Zotero holds. Papero reads the rest as it imports.
7. To put every new source in one collection, pick it under Add to a collection (optional). When you open the dialog from a collection, that collection is already picked.
8. Press Import my library. For a small library the button names the count, such as "Import 25 sources".

You can also start from Settings > Integrations: on the Zotero card, press Import from Zotero.

While the import runs, Papero says how many items it has read, such as "Read 200 of 640 items." Press Stop to stop after the batch on its way. When it ends, Import finished says how many sources were new and how many you already had. Press Done.

What comes over

Papero reads the items in your own Zotero library, newest first. Attachments and notes are left out, so PDFs stay in Zotero. To add them in Papero, see Upload PDFs.

Each item goes through the same import as a BibTeX file, so it keeps the same details. See Import BibTeX and RIS files for what each entry keeps and why one might be skipped.

One import brings in a limited number of items. For a larger library, Papero imports the most recently added ones and says how many it left out. Export those from Zotero as a .bib file and import it.

Keep your Zotero collections

When your Zotero library has collections, the preview offers Keep my Zotero collections, ticked. Papero puts each item in the collection of the same name, and creates the ones you do not have yet. Papero collections have no levels, so a collection inside another keeps its own name. When the same name is used under two parents, Papero adds the parent's name in front.

There is a limit on how many collections you can keep. Items of a collection Papero could not create are still imported, without it. If Papero cannot read your Zotero collections, the import goes in without them, and Papero says so.

Importing again after a plain import also sorts the sources you already have into their collections.

Import again in one click

With Remember my key for next time ticked, the next time you open Import from Zotero the dialog says Connected to Zotero as and your Zotero user name.

• Press Import again to read your library with the saved key.
• Press Use a different key to paste another key.
• Press Disconnect to delete the saved key.

Settings > Integrations also has Disconnect while a key is saved. If Zotero no longer accepts the saved key, Papero removes it and asks you to paste a new one.

How Papero handles your key

Papero keeps a saved key encrypted and uses it only when you import from Zotero again. It deletes the key when you disconnect, when Zotero refuses it, when you have not used it for a year, or when you delete your account. Without the tick, Papero uses your key only for that import and does not keep it. The Privacy Policy has the details.

For each source you import, Papero also keeps your Zotero user ID and that item's Zotero item key with the source. They stay with the source after you disconnect Zotero, and are deleted when you delete the source or your account. On Plus, when you export to Word, each citation of such a source links to the same item in your Zotero library, so the Zotero Word plugin can find that item instead of adding a copy.

Free and Plus

Importing from Zotero works the same on Free and Plus, and the new sources show in full in your library on both. To compare the plans, see pricing.

If something goes wrong

• Zotero did not accept this key. Copy the key again, or create a new one.
• This key cannot read your library. Create one with library read access.
• Zotero is busy. Try again in a minute. Zotero did not answer, or asked Papero to slow down.
• That does not look like a Zotero API key. Copy it again from zotero.org/settings/keys. The pasted text has characters a key does not have, such as spaces.

Next: import from Mendeley.