Set Up Zotero

Zotero is where I keep my papers and references. It saves the citation details, stores the PDF, helps me organise papers into collections and later exports the references I need for LaTeX.

You want a complete pipeline:

Find a paper → access the PDF through UTS → save it from the browser → check the details → file it somewhere useful → cite it later.

1. Install Zotero and the browser connector

Go to the official Zotero download page and install:

1. the Zotero desktop application; and
2. the Zotero Connector for your browser.

You need both. The desktop application manages your library; the connector gives you the little save button in your browser.

When you are on a paper's publisher page, click the connector button and choose the Zotero collection where you want to save it. Zotero should capture the title, authors, venue, year, DOI and, when access permits, the PDF.

Warning

Do not assume the captured details are correct. Quickly check the title, authors, publication year, venue and DOI while the paper is still open. Fixing one record now is much easier than repairing a broken bibliography just before submission.

2. Start with a simple library structure

Do not build a filing system with 40 nested folders before you have read your first paper. Start with collections for the projects or broad topics you are actually working on.

For example:

My Library
├── Capstone -- XR Teleoperation
│   ├── Background
│   ├── Methods
│   └── Evaluation
├── Robot Perception
└── To Sort

I also find a few workflow tags useful:

• to-read
• reading
• read
• key-paper

A paper can sit in more than one Zotero collection without creating duplicate records, so you do not need to find one perfect home for everything.

3. Connect Zotero to the UTS Library proxy

UTS already subscribes to many of the papers you will find on publisher websites. Instead of searching for a questionable copy somewhere else, access the publisher through the UTS Library.

With the Zotero Connector installed, Zotero can detect the library proxy and offer to remember it. Once it has been saved, visiting a supported publisher page normally redirects you through the UTS route automatically.

Use a browser that supports Zotero proxy redirection

Zotero currently states that proxy redirection is not available in Safari. If you want to use the automatic workflow below, use the Zotero Connector in Firefox, Chrome or Edge.

Set it up for IEEE Xplore

1. Make sure the Zotero Connector is installed and enabled in your browser.
2. Open the UTS Library record for the IEEE Electronic Library (IEL).
3. Click IEEE Electronic Library (IEL).
4. Sign in through the normal UTS login page if asked.
5. When Zotero detects the proxy and asks whether it should remember it, accept the prompt.

Set it up for the ACM Digital Library

1. Open the UTS Library record for the ACM Digital Library.
2. Click ACM Digital Library.
3. Sign in through UTS if asked.
4. Accept Zotero's prompt to remember the proxy.

Set it up for Taylor & Francis Online

1. Open the UTS Library record for Taylor & Francis Online.
2. Click Taylor & Francis Online.
3. Sign in through UTS if asked.
4. Accept Zotero's prompt to remember the proxy.

Test it

After saving a proxy, open a normal paper page from that publisher. Zotero should redirect the page through the library route and briefly show that a proxy redirection has occurred.

If it does not:

1. open the Zotero Connector settings in your browser;
2. find the Proxies section;
3. make sure Enable proxy redirection and Automatically detect new proxies are enabled; and
4. repeat the setup from the UTS Library record.

See Zotero's Connector proxy preferences if you need to inspect or remove a saved proxy.

Warning

Only enter your UTS credentials on the official UTS sign-in flow. A Zotero redirect should take you through the library proxy; it should not ask you to type your UTS password into Zotero itself.

4. Add the UTS full-text resolver

This is separate from automatic browser redirection, but it is also useful. It lets Zotero try the UTS Library when you use its full-text lookup tools.

Following the UTS Library's Zotero guidance:

1. In Zotero, open Settings and go to General.
2. Find the Locate section.
3. Set the resolver to University of Technology Sydney.
4. Check that the base URL is:

https://search.lib.uts.edu.au/discovery/openurl?institution=61UTS_INST&vid=61UTS_INST:61UTS

Menu wording can move slightly between Zotero versions, so use the UTS page above as the current reference if your screen looks different.

5. Install Better BibTeX

If you will write in LaTeX, I recommend installing Better BibTeX for Zotero. It gives you stable citation keys and can keep an exported .bib file updated as your Zotero collection changes.

Install it using the official Better BibTeX instructions. The short version is:

1. download the latest .xpi release;
2. in Zotero, open Tools → Plugins;
3. choose Install Plugin From File; and
4. select the downloaded .xpi file.

The default settings are fine to begin with. Do not spend an afternoon designing the world's greatest citation-key pattern.

When you start a LaTeX paper:

1. create a Zotero collection for that paper;
2. add the references you actually cite;
3. export the collection using Better BibTeX or Better BibLaTeX; and
4. enable Keep updated so the .bib file is refreshed when the collection changes.

See the Better BibTeX guide to automatic exports for the full workflow.

Warning

Once a citation key is used in a paper, avoid changing it casually. Your .bib file and your \cite{...} commands need to agree.

6. Do a quick setup test

Before moving on, save a few papers from different publishers.

For each item, check that:

• the metadata is correct;
• the PDF is attached if UTS provides access;
• it is in a useful collection;
• its workflow tag makes sense; and
• Better BibTeX has generated a citation key.

Then export the records to a small .bib file and open it in a text editor. If that works, your basic reference pipeline is ready.

Next, set up Obsidian so you have somewhere to put your own notes and ideas.