[wosk]

I highly recommend going for the beta version which features a (game-changing) built-in pdf reader[1], with annotations (searchable and synced with the beta iPad app) and many more improvements.

Zotero is an amazing tool and I could not imagine writing papers without it. For collaborative writing, it syncs the bibliography with overleaf[2] and google docs. The browser add-on allows to build your library with one click while browsing, and it parses wonderfully meta-data from all (most) publishers and pre-print servers. Then my unique bibfile (symlinked in every project) is continuously updated to reflect new items or manual changes.

But I use it even for non-publishing side of research: one can save webpages (with snapshots) and write notes with formatting around them. My personal research workflow involves note-taking with the markdown app Zettlr[2], from which I can cite my Zotero library using simply `@[Author:Title:Year]`. I can then build notes from a twitter thread and stats.stackexchange.com answers, then connect it with papers and blog posts that way, and a specific chapter of a book with my annotation on the cloud. It not always straightforward as a workflow but it works wonders.

And the team is very responsive on the forum and on twitter. If one of the dev is ready this, thank you so much for making researchers life way easier !

EDIT: I just realised I can share my libraries online. A bit ashamed because it is very messy, but in case you are wondering what a Zotero library looks like, here is the link to mine [4] (without the notes and the embedded pdf and data files because I cannot share all of them. Moreover, I don't use the folder structure anymore so its very messy).

[1] https://www.zotero.org/support/pdf_reader_preview

[2] I recommend the BetterBibTex extension for anything related to tex, it'll save you a lot of time

[3] https://zettlr.com, another great app.

[4] https://www.zotero.org/wosk/library

[arugulum]

Personally, I don't like using the built-in PDF reader. Its annotations are in a proprietary format and aren't reflected in the PDF itself (which is how Zotero can keep track of them, because they're in its own format). That may work for some users/use-cases, but I like annotations to the PDF to be burned into the PDF, in case I'm using other programs as well. (I know you can export the PDF, but that's a whole other step).

Admittedly, the upside of using the built-in PDF reader is that you can have a seamless experience between desktop and mobile. But the reader itself doesn't have all the features I need.

Personally, I use Zotero + PDFExpert. The killer feature being to crop (desktop) or auto-crop (iPad) PDFs of papers, which often have an obscene amount of whitespace.

The nice thing about Zotero is that it's open enough to support both of our usage habits.

[bluenose69]

Thanks for pointing out the built-in PDF reader. I use the beta version but was quite busy last term, and hadn't noticed this new feature. It's handy because it lets me highlight and take notes without affecting the PDF file.

[jjoonathan]

Ooh, cool! I'm spoiled by liquidtext, and while this isn't at the same level yet, I'm glad they're headed down this path because liquidtext recently went Scrooge McDuck with the pricing.

[jsilence]

Annotating Pdfs also works fine pre-beta with an external Pdf-Viewer that is capable of hilighting and adding comments, like for example Foxit or Pdf-Annotaor. Simply double click to open the Pdf in that viewer (has to be default app for file type), annotate, save file and back in Ztero it is possible to extract the annotations into notes with the Zotfile plugin.