Compared to other reference management software, one of the major features of Zotero is its integration with a reader. Currently, it supports reading and annotating PDF and EPUB files, but does not support the CNKI CAJ format.
Most English literature is downloaded in PDF format to the computer, so the following plugins are all based on PDF English literature reading enhancement plugins.
Installation method for plugins#
Since this is the first article introducing plugins, let's first introduce the installation method of plugins. Zotero's plugins are similar to Firefox browser. First, click on the "Plugins" option under the "Tools" tab to open the plugin settings page.
Click on "Install Add on From File" at the settings icon, and select the downloaded plugin release to install. Some plugins may need to be manually enabled. The installed plugins will appear in the list on the left side of the settings page, providing additional configuration options for the plugins.
pdf-translate#
The most important plugin is the translation plugin, similar to Zhiyun literature translation, which provides the function of automatically translating selected text. Project address and Chinese documentation for direct access. The author has written a very complete user guide, which can be followed for detailed configuration. This article only briefly describes the solution I adopted.
Simple configuration of the plugin#
After successful installation, enter the literature reading to see the translation effect of selecting text.
It can also be presented through the sidebar on the right.
For cases where the font is too small, please go to the settings page to adjust the font size and line height.
Translation service#
This translation plugin provides a wide range of translation service interfaces. For detailed configuration methods, please refer to the Chinese documentation. For me, Google Translate has some network issues, DeepL has good translation effects, but free translation has frequency restrictions, and paid APIs have restrictions on overseas credit cards.
Therefore, I adopted the solution of DeepLX, which overcomes the limitations of DeepL. In addition, I recommend using the method of DeepLX Serverless, which uses Tencent Cloud Function service to avoid access frequency restrictions caused by fixed IP addresses. The disadvantage is that additional payment is required (about 50 per year) to enable Tencent Cloud Function service.
In addition, the configured DeepLX API can also be configured in a very useful browser plugin called "Immersive Translation". Therefore, the payment is relatively worthwhile.
If you are configuring the pdf-translate plugin for the first time, it is recommended to use the default translation service first. If you need to configure DeepLX Serverless and immersive translation plugin later, I will write a separate tutorial.
Translation of titles and abstracts#
Right-click on any entry on the literature library page, and additional options for translating titles and abstracts will appear in the menu. After clicking, the translated result will appear in the "Other" column of the entry data. The plugin author has written another plugin called Actions and Tags for Zotero, which can automate the translation of literature titles and abstracts (introduced in the next article), and ultimately insert them into the summary of literature reading with one click.
better-notes#
A powerful annotation and note enhancement plugin that enables double-linked notes in Zotero. It can export MD files to other locations and achieve bidirectional synchronization, truly linking with other note-taking software (such as Obsidian).
Regarding Obsidian, it is a useful note-taking software, but its usage tutorial is also a huge pit with a certain learning curve. If you have no experience with Obsidian, you can first organize your notes in Zotero.
better-notes is also written by this great developer, so the Chinese documentation is also very complete. This great developer has a fast debugging speed and responds to issues quickly. These plugins have almost brought the usability of Zotero to a new level.
Converting annotations into notes#
In PDF reading, we can annotate selected text, forming an annotation in the left sidebar. If you have installed the pdf-translate and better-notes plugins, the annotation content will be automatically translated and a synchronization note icon will appear.
After clicking the yellow synchronization note icon, a note in the .md format with the content of the annotation will be created.
In addition, you can create a new .md format note by right-clicking on the entry.
You can also click the plus sign on the right sidebar of the reader to add entry notes.
You can drag the annotation directly into the note to insert it.
What's magical about converting annotations into notes is that the annotation content in the .md note file is actually inserted in the form of a link. After left-clicking, an option "Show on page" will appear. After clicking, it will directly jump to the original text position.
What's even more magical is that by exporting the notes through synchronization, you can still click on the link to jump to the location of the literature annotation in Obsidian, truly achieving the linkage between Zotero and Obsidian.
Implementing double-linked notes within Zotero#
In the editing page of any note, click on the better notes icon in the upper left corner to select the double-linked relationship with other notes.
The "Point to" function means inserting a link pointing to the target note in this note. After selecting another note, the effect is as shown in the figure.
The "Mention" function is the opposite. It will add a link pointing to this note at the end of the target note, mentioning this note in the target note.
It is gratifying to be able to achieve double-linked notes in Zotero, but the double-linked note function of this plugin is relatively simple. If you need more powerful double-linked note functions, it is recommended to use Obsidian to manage notes. A brief introduction to Obsidian may be provided later.
Exporting notes and achieving bidirectional synchronization#
In the editing page of the note, click "Export Current Note" in the tabs above.
Or right-click on an entry in the library view and click "Export Note" with a yellow icon.
After configuring as shown in the figure, a note file synchronized bidirectionally with the Zotero library will be generated at the export location.
Open the synchronization manager under the "Tools" tab in Zotero to view the current bidirectional synchronization note status.
The synchronization manager will automatically refresh the note exported at the export location according to the synchronization time (with some delay). When modifying the content of the file using other markdown editors, the modified content will also be synchronized back to the note in the Zotero database.
However, it is worth noting that if you want to modify the export file location or delete the exported note file, you need to cancel the synchronization in the synchronization manager first, otherwise the note will be re-exported to the target location every time it is refreshed.
Additional configuration for synchronizing notes to Obsidian#
If you directly export the synchronized notes to the Obsidian database, you may encounter some formatting issues, such as the addition of escape characters before square brackets. If you encounter similar issues, you can modify the export template according to the following configuration:
Open the template editor under the Zotero "Edit" tab, select "ExportMDFileContent", and replace the template with the code snippet below. Be sure to copy it completely, including ${{.
${{
return mdContent.replaceAll("\\[\\[","[[").replaceAll("\\#","#").replaceAll("\\","");
}}$
Conclusion#
The note function plugins of Zotero are very powerful. In the next article, I will introduce several other note enhancement plugins, and then briefly introduce the workflow of literature notes for reference.
Obsidian's usage may be introduced later, including the notes in this article, which are written using Obsidian.
Related articles#
Research Tool Series (2): Using Nut Cloud to Configure Zotero Synchronization