Zotero: Collaborate

Zotero's Groups feature allows you to share references with other Zotero users online. It's a great way to work on collaborative research projects.

First, set up Zotero sync and synchronize your library.

• To create a shared library, click the Create Groups button near the top left of your Zotero window (small blue/green button with two “people” icons, second from the left).
• To join an existing Zotero library, search for it at zotero.org/groups or be invited by the group’s owner.
• You must log in to the zotero.org website to create or join a group.

You now have two sections in your Zotero collections pane: My Library and Group Libraries.

Personal and group libraries are entirely separate, and changes made to items in one library do not affect the other. You can drag items back and forth libraries to copy items.

Search for existing public groups or create a new group. Groups may be public (searchable, and anyone can join) or private (users can only join if invited).

It's easy to use EndNote and Zotero together and take advantage of the best features of each, or to share Zotero libraries with colleagues using EndNote or vice versa. Both programs can read and write a standard citation file format called RIS, which means references can be converted back and forth with a few clicks.

PDFs and other attachments do not export between programs, however; only citation information.

These instructions explain how to share libraries between Zotero and EndNote (or EndNote Web) using the RIS file format.  PDFs and other attachments do not export between programs, however; only citation information.

Zotero to EndNote

To save your Zotero library for importing into EndNote, click the Zotero button that looks like a gear and choose "Export Library." Choose RIS as the file type and pick a filename.  To share a collection, right click on the collection and choose "Export collection."

In EndNote, click "File" and then "Import." Click the "Choose File" button and select the file you just exported from Zotero. Set Import Option to "Reference Manager (RIS)" and click Import.

EndNote to Zotero

To export your EndNote library for use in Zotero, click "File" and then "Export." Set the output style to "RefMan (RIS) Export" and save it as a text file.

In Zotero, click the button that looks like a gear and choose "Import." Just double-click the file you exported from EndNote. The new references will be added to a collection named "Imported" followed by the date and time.