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Zotero Citation Software

Citation management tool for writing and collaboration.
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Searching Your Library

Quick Search

You can perform a quick search of your Zotero library by using the search field in the toolbar. Click on the down arrow (▼) to change which fields are being searched. Quick Search options are:

  • Title, Creator, Year: limits the search to only those three fields plus publication titles.
  • Fields & Tags: searches the metadata for citations, including tags and text in notes
  • Everything: searches all metadata, notes, and includes indexed full-text content in PDFs

Zotero will start searching as you type unless you enclose your search in quotation marks. For searches using quotation marks, the search will not begin until the quote is closed or you hit Enter.

Advanced Search

You can open the advanced search dialog in several ways:

  • Click the magnifying glass in the tool ribbon Magnifying Glass icon for Zotero advanced search
  • Select Edit > Advanced Search, or
  • Hit ctrl + shift + F on your keyboard.

From Advanced Search you can perform searches on all or parts of your library (including group libraries). Advanced search allows you to:

  • Specify which field(s) are searched
  • Specify which parts of your library are searched
  • Search for items that do or do not match your terms
  • Limit your search to items that match all of your parameters or include results that match any.

Once you formulate your search, you can save it to your library. Click the Save Search button and enter a name for the search. Saved searches appear in your library similar to collections, but with a saved search icon (Zotero saved search icon comprising a magnifying glass over file folder). Saved search results will automatically update to include any new matches.

 

Sorting Your Library

zotero column chooser menuYou can easily sort your library by different fields, such as titles, creators, date added, or even date modified. To change how items are sorted just click any column header in the citations panel. Your library will then be sorted by alphabetical order in that field. Clicking on the column again will toggle between ascending and descending sorting.

Zotero displays columns for Title, Creators, and Attachments fields by default. You can change the fields displayed by right-clicking on any column heading to bring up a menu of available fields. This menu will also give you the option to change the field used for a secondary sort.

Columns can be reordered by dragging and dropping. You can also reset the column order using the Restore Column Order option in the column menu.