It looks a different in each browser.
Chrome/Windows:
Safari/Mac:
Firefox/Windows:
Already have some PDFs saved from past research?
Just drag and drop them from a desktop folder into your Zotero library. Zotero will automatically search online and match the PDFs with citations, if possible.
Need to add an item to your library by hand?
Use the green "plus" icon and choose the type of item from the dropdown list. A window will open with the appropriate fields to complete for that item type.
If Zotero detects that you're looking at a book or article from the library, or a site like Amazon, you'll see a book or page icon appear in the address bar of your browser.
Just click the icon and Zotero will automatically save the citation.
If you're on a page of search results with many items, you'll see a folder icon instead.
Click this to get a list of all the items on the page, and check off the ones you want to save.
Other Web Sites
Zotero can't automatically capture citation info from some web pages, but you can still add them to your Zotero library.
You can add information about the author, etc., a new "web page" item in your library. This will also attach a snapshot of the page to the citation. Taking a snapshot saves a copy of the page to your computer. It includes the page's text and images, so if the page is removed later, or if you're offline, you'll still be able to view your copy.
1. Click the Zotero button at the bottom of your browser to open your library.
2. At the top left, click the folder button with a green plus sign to create a new "collection."
Create collections to organize your references. Collections are like file folders on your computer, but a reference can be in more than one collection at a time.
Zotero automatically saves PDFs along with citations when possible (you can change this in the preferences menu if you wish.)
You can attach files manually by dragging a PDF (or another file) into your Zotero pane.