I had been trying to use it from time to time for the past 15 years and it was never good enough for me. The UI was also too dated for my taste. Zotero 7 finally nails it. Congrats and huge thanks to the developers!
If I remember correctly, Zotero server has good API the client don't have. But you get the impression that they don't want anyone to have their own Zotero server.
I know, not perfect for everyone, but it avoids paying for a monthly storage bill.
Unfortunately from the main Zotero dev’s responses, it seems clear that they have no incentive to implement either and probably never will (look, the same comment from 2½ years ago⁵) without some shift in circumstances (massive increase in funding, new regulatory requirements). Even if a community member implemented the entirety of either solution, dstillman can just (rightly, tbh) claim it will increase their maintenance burden when they are trying to support paying customers.
1: https://github.com/zotero/dataserver/issues/105#issuecomment...
2: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/380780/#Comment...
3: https://www.zotero.org/support/security
4: https://support.apple.com/guide/security/advanced-data-prote...
I started out using using Zotero during lockdowns after having known about it for years. The landing page and Wikipedia article never really sold me on it before—"A reference manager? Why do I want that?" Now I use it for collecting everything that isn't a good fit for the native bookmarks manager in Firefox (which is a lot more than what Chrome's bookmarks manager is good for, but still). Having started using it, it's great for other stuff like archiving Web pages and good enough to create/manage lists of books.
You might also be interested in a recent Show HN: Citadel – a Calibre-compatible eBook management app <https://github.com/every-day-things/citadel>
I still think it would be a great idea of Citadel were able to work as a Zotero add-on/distribution that was specifically designed with e-books in mind.
I have used Zotero as a digital library for years and it works great for that. Especially since the iPad companion app is pretty good for reading and annotating, while I prefer collecting and organizing on the computer.
My main issues has been that the interface has been an eye sore on MacOS, and that it can be quite slow when searching large data bases. But I’m really excited that this update seems to fix both interface and performance.
But guess which profession uses citations probably more times per day than any other: attorneys!
Now guess
See for example:
- https://juris-m.readthedocs.io/en/latest/introduction.html
- https://juris-m.github.io/posts/2021-01-17-1.html
Zotero works for only really simple legal citations.
The addition of epubs means I can read, cite, annotate and organise anything I'm reading in one place.
I really appreciate the work the team have done here. The last two releases in particular have felt like massive leaps forward.
Great piece of software!
I haven't used Zotero 7 yet, but this is great. I love this. Ditto here:
> At the top of the item pane, a new customizable header lets you choose what info to show[...] even a bibliography entry in your chosen citation style[...]you can choose to keep the Info section closed when you’re not editing metadata and still see the title and other important info
Clearly a lot of thought was put into the ergonomics of everyday use.
