Citation Management Tools

1. To use Zotero's cloud storage, sync your Zotero library to your Zotero account. Select the sync icon in the upper right corner of your Zotero library then open Sync preferences.

2. Next enter your Zotero username and password to connect to your cloud storage space.

3. Now you can use Zotero on multiple computers, create Zotero Group libraries, and use Zotero's cloud storage to back up your data.

1.  Zotero can keep track of your library’s data across multiple computers.  Zotero is able to sync your library across multiple computers because Zotero can store your data on their servers.  There are two kinds of data that Zotero can store.  The first is just-plain data, or the metadata associated with all of the citations you have – the titles, authors, journal titles, tags and notes you have for those citations.  The just-plain data is synced on Zotero’s servers and there is no limit to how much of this kind of data you can store on Zotero’s servers and therefore sync across multiple computers.

2.  The other type of data are files – the attachments your citations may have, such as PDFs or screenshots.  These files can quickly take up a lot of space, so Zotero only gives users 300 MB free cloud space for this type of data.  To give you an idea of how much 300 MB is, a general rule of thumb is that one PDF averages 1 MB.

3.  If you need to access more than 300 MB of space from multiple computers or intend to use larger Zotero Group libraries, one option is to pay for additional storage space via Zotero. Note -- The University of Arizona does not offer unlimited free Zotero storage space to students and employees; all persons that use Zotero must pay for the storage plan they need. 

1.  To responsibly manage and back up your data, it is important to know where your Zotero files are kept on your computer.  If you have a Zotero account and are using sync, your data is saved to Zotero's cloud storage space. But the data in your collections is also stored on your computer’s hard drive.  To see where Zotero stores your files, on a PC, got to the Edit menu and select Settings (on a Mac click Zotero in the Zotero toolbar to access the Settings menu):

2.  Go to the Advanced tab, then scroll down to Data Directory Location. Select Show Data Directory to navigate to open the folder on your computer.

3. You can now see where Zotero is saving the files on your computer.  You can use this navigation to recover lost files or to back up your files as you would regularly back up any other important files – on an external hard drive, or using whatever other method you have in place.

4.  Note – if you would like to change where Zotero stores your files, you may do so by choosing a custom location.  Zotero will now re-route your files to this new location.