Citation Management Tools

1. Download the Zotero application for your operating system. If you plan to use Zotero with a word processor, close all word processing applications before running the installer.

2. When installing the Zotero connector, the option you are given depends on which browser you are using to access the page. In the example above, Chrome is used to access the Zotero site. Connectors are also available for Firefox and Edge. Use those browsers to access the Zotero page if you want to install their connectors. You can add as many connectors as you want -- they will all connect to your Zotero application. 

Note: The Zotero Connector for Safari is bundled with Zotero 7.0. After opening Zotero 7.0 for the first time, you can enable the connector from the Extensions pane of the Safari preferences. The Zotero Connector for Safari requires macOS 11 Big Sur or later. If you experience issues with the Safari connector, check out the documentation on the Zotero website.

Check the upper right corner of your browser window to see the newly added Zotero browser extension. (Note - if you are using Safari, the connector will display to the left of the URL.

Mac

Open the .dmg you downloaded and drag Zotero to the Applications folder. You can then run Zotero from Spotlight, Launchpad, or the Applications folder and add it to your Dock like any other program.

After installing Zotero, you can eject and delete the .dmg file.

Windows

Run the setup program you downloaded.

Linux

Official Tarball

Download the tarball, extract the contents, and run zotero from that directory to start Zotero.

For Ubuntu, the tarball includes a .desktop file that can be used to add Zotero to the launcher:

1. Move the extracted directory to a location of your choice (e.g., /opt/zotero).

2. Run the set_launcher_icon script from a terminal to update the .desktop file for that location. .desktop files require absolute paths for icons, so set_launcher_icon replaces the icon path with the current location of the icon based on where you've placed the directory.

3. Symlink zotero.desktop into ~/.local/share/applications/ (e.g., ln -s /opt/zotero/zotero.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/zotero.desktop)

Zotero should then appear either in your launcher or in the applications list when you click the grid icon (“Show Applications”), from which you can drag it to the launcher.

You may need to re-run set_launcher_icon after certain Zotero updates. If something isn't working, it may help to remove the current symlink (~/.local/share/applications/zotero.desktop), wait a few seconds for Zotero to disappear from the launcher, and recreate it.

Debian/Ubuntu-based Distros

A longtime community member maintains zotero-deb, a lightweight wrapper for the official tarball that uses apt for installation and updates. If you're not comfortable installing tarballs or are having trouble following the above instructions, this is what we recommend using.

Other Packages

Unofficial packages are also available for various distros, but note that such packages are built by third parties, and we can only provide support for the official tarball and zotero-deb. In particular, third-party packages may be sandboxed, breaking various functionality.

Chromebook

To set up Zotero on a Chromebook, see Installing on a Chromebook.

How do I upgrade to a new version?

Zotero should update itself automatically by default, or you can go to the Help menu and select “Check for Updates…” to check for updates manually. You can also always manually install a new version of Zotero over your existing version without losing any data.

Creating an account can be done by going to the Zotero website, and clicking Log In in the upper right corner of the page. You are not required to use your University of Arizona email. Information that is needed to sign up is:

• Username
• Email
• Password

The UofA does not offer an institutional subscription plan in order to gain more storage space.