Zotero-Tools

Tools for Zotero (citation and reference management software).

Zotero Tools involve a bunch of functions I'm missing in Zotero. I've found some hints and VBA scripts in the internet to solve my problems. They worked more or less reliable and I've not been satisfied in every case. So I've decided to bundle some of these ideas and complete them to one tool. And these are Zotero Tools!

The functions:

Adjust punctuation surrounding citation groups

This function corrects spaces and punctuation before and after the citations in your text. You can switch between:

• This is a phenomenal, ⁽¹⁾ and unbelivable sentence. ⁽²⁾ This is not.
• This is a phenomenal,⁽¹⁾ and unbelivable sentence.⁽²⁾ This is not.
• This is a phenomenal⁽¹⁾, and unbelivable sentence⁽²⁾. This is not.

or

• This is a phenomenal, (1) and unbelivable sentence. (2) This is not.
• This is a phenomenal (1), and unbelivable sentence (2). This is not.

or

• This is a phenomenal, (Shakespeare 1565) and unbelivable sentence. (Raleigh 1554) This is not.
• This is a phenomenal,(Shakespeare 1565) and unbelivable sentence.(Raleigh 1554) This is not.
• This is a phenomenal (Shakespeare 1565), and unbelivable sentence (Raleigh 1554). This is not.

Join citation groups

This function joins citation groups, inside the whole document or in a selected range of the document:

• The first sentence.[1], [2], [3] The next sentence.

becomes

• The first sentence.[1-3] The next sentence.

Resolve unreachable citation groups

This function resolves copy-pasted Zotero citations to clear readable text in parts of the document Zotero doesn't deal with, i.e.

• comments
• headers
• footers

Set internal linking between citations and references

This function sets internal links between citations and bibliography (i.e. hyperlinks inside the document). These links can be:

• unidirectional, i.e. the citation inside the text is hyperlinked to its reference in the bibliography

or

• bidirectional, i.e. the reference in the bibliography is also hyperlinked to all its citations in the text. This is very helpful during the writing process of a publication.

This function also involves an undo function.

Set web links in references

This function sets hyperlinks on URIs (uniform resource identifiers) in Zotero-generated bibliographies. It works for the following URI formats:

• http or https addresses (the scheme must be involved, e.g. 'http://www.example.com' but not 'www.example.com')
• doi addresses (the scheme must be involved, e.g. 'doi:10.1234/5678' or 'doi: 10.1234/5678')
• short doi addresses (the scheme must be involved, e.g. 'short-doi:abcde' or 'short-doi: abcde' or 'shortdoi:abcde' or 'shortdoi: abcde')

The technique:

Zotero Tools are programmed as Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macro. They can be configured via an XML file. By this they can be addapted to many (perhaps any) numeric citation style. Some of them do also work for author-year styles.

Installation:

1. Import all files except ZtConfig.xml and ZtReadMe.txt into Normal.dotm:
1. Open VBA editor by pressing Alt-F11 in Word.
2. Open a Windows explorer window and navigate to the folder where you have saved the Zotero Tools files.
3. Pull all files exept ZtConfig.xml and ZtReadMe.txt into the VBA editor window and let them fall on 'Normal' in the project explorer lefthand side in the editor.
2. Save the modification of Normal.dotm by pressing Ctrl-S inside the editor.
3. Copy the following files into the Normal.dotm directory: ZtConfig.xml and ZtReadMe.txt.
1. The directory of the Normal.dotm file should be:
   • Windows 7 and following OS versions: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates
   • Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates
2. If you can't find the AppData directory it may be hidden. Have a look here.
4. Add a macro button to the Word ribbon (this must be done in Word's main window, not in the editor):
1. Click File -> Options -> Customize Ribbon.
2. Under 'Choose commands from', click 'Macros'.
3. Click on 'Normal.ZtStart.Start'.
4. Under 'Customize the ribbon', click 'New Tab'.
5. Then click 'Rename' and type a name for your tab, for example 'Zotero Tools'.
6. Rename the automatically inserted new group: select it, click 'Rename' and type a name for your group, for example also 'Zotero Tools'.
7. Click Add.
8. Select the just inserted macro and click 'Rename' to choose an image for the macro and type the name you want, for example 'Run'.
9. Click 'OK' twice.

More informations you can find in the ZtReadMe.txt file.