reference management software

Under construction


One of the repeated processes is to save a url, the associated content, and the date.

While GRAMPS permits (sources &) citations may be linked with individuals, events, ...  it is not so great at getting that information back out again in reports. Notes may be used to track urls and note content. (My primary database has about 1000 people,  400 sources, 1000 citations.) I don't recall Reunion functionality on this front. Experience shows that this information does not tend to transfer well with gedcom. 

Saw mention of zotero.org in one of genealogy facebook groups today (?) and it struck me as useful for doing the above in the cloud. Did a smidge of searching - see facebook.

Installed zotero on windows and chrome.
(It was not available in the pc updater.) Entered one web page (must do my own site crawling to get the collection.) The bibliography entry dropped my first name, and used the title I manually added. It did not show the url. The report included the url, date, and note but not the content . I can see why the content was shoved in the note too in youtube video.

Failed to install a libreoffice extension.  The official one was poorly rated. There was a tabbed version.
Thinking back I think there was a JDK error. Tried again from the zotero>preferences>citation side. Got a more user friendly error linking to an oracle page with the JDK downloads (no, this is not in PC Updater either.) and I now have icons in writer, but not in calc
In Eric Bright's How Zotero works inside LibreOffice Writer emphasis is given to Zotero must be running to save from the browser or pull into libre documents. This may explain some of my nothing happening experiences. The other possibility is that windows popped up but were behind others. 

Another wierdness is it did not seem to search on tags - I endid up using the titles I had to make up.

zotero: organizing with collection emphasized using tags lots but only using collections on a per project basis. Reminder of smart folders like duplicates, trash...

https://youtu.be/yF_JVinUiFw might actually help clarify copies vs links

To do: look at group to collaborate.  Does it help with limit? Is it worth the context switching for $60/yr.  (There was mention of running out of space in a month.)

I kept a spreadsheet for my 1950 census across services. Wish I kept one for updating the descendants that are missing death dates and not known to be alive. Started with page 7. Is there a known to be alive field?  Unfortunately this will not work for zotero.

Wikipedia  shows other options. Wonder why a well informed friend chose this.
I vaguely remember something similar from rootstech 2022, but did not appreciate it then.

Follow up:
Bought the book "Zotero for Genealogists: Harnessing the Power of Your Research" by Donna Cox Baker from Amazon. I like paper for reading in bed. Hard to do when you need your computer at hand.

Apparently some time there will be a revision covering zotero 6 and relevant bits from her more recent researching book. sigh. date unknown.
 
Chapter 1: intro - wish the headers in the research log picture were readable.
PART 1: Overview. 
Chapter 2: Getting Started. Already had installed.  From the zotero website, added the suggested group. Then on the desktop dragged to my library. This context switching seems like an added layer of complexity.
Chaper 3: What is the installed style? Recommended is The Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition (full note) or later (exercise 1: "Evidence Explained" book. 
Chapter 4 creating collections and subcollections. I had already done this in my trying the system. 
 The emphasized point is the file is in MyLibrary and linked to elsewhere - only one copy. I had already figured out My Library seemed large and unruly.
Chapter 5 Attachments. This is where I lost traction on my own. There were multiple options which was best for me? After my first pass thru the chapter, I was distracted by a topic I was aware of but had ignored - keeping my zotero storage within the free limits by storing stuff locally and using some other cloud backup. Supporting this was an understoood filesystem off a redefinabe base. The file system had some familiar earmarks and is covered in more depth later. Must be time for a walk.

EE > art; zotero 4gen > experiment
I had hoped it was better established


Pointed to by forum



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