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Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

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Re: Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

#12
post #7

I’m using Zotero + Obsidian for my academic work and PhD. If anyone is trying to work out a Zotero to Obsidian to Word/Libre Office workflow, give it a look. I’ve created a GitHub repo README with instructions on linking everything together. Hopefully someone finds this useful, happy for more contributions also (hence why used a repo to do this) https://github.com/evolve2k/obsidian-pandoc-academic-word-do...

It looks like a powerful combo. Back in the day I went the LaTeX path, nowadays I’ll be tempted to follow your approach.

I have tried Obsidian a couple of times, but it never stuck with me. For some reason I cannot go back to “regular editors” after years of vim (and now neovim), it is not only the modal editing (IIRC Obsidian has a decent vi mode), I guess it is more about having all your editing in the same tool (and the terminal).

Nowadays I stick to neovim plus Telekasten plugin, not as polished as Obsidian, but with enough features.

Re: Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

#13
Zotero is great, but only if enhanced with plugins and a few settings. I don't use Zotero Better Notes so far, but here's my list:

    - [Opinionated decision] disable sync
    - [Opinionated decision] set “Base directory” (Preferences > Advanced > Files and Folders) to local literature folder
        - every time you download literature PDFs, create a new subfolder with the motivation for search,
        - prepend folder names by date-string (yyyy-mm-dd_look_for_albert_einstein_lit)
    - set PDF View to “System default” (Preferences > General > “Open PDFs using..”)
    - Enable recursive quick search in folders:
        go to Preferences > Advanced > Config Editor, search for `recursiveCollections`, double click (set to True)
    - use CTRL-SHIFT-DRAG to drop files into Zotero as Links, see [#77](https://github.com/zotero/zotero/issues/77)
    - use CTRL-Shift-C to copy bibliography to clipboard
    - Dark Theme [1]:
        - Go to `%AppData%\Zotero\Zotero\Profiles\` (`XXXXXXXX.default`)
        - Create `chrome` folder
        - Place the `userChrome.css`
        - Start Zotero
    - Add-Ons:
        - zotero-pdfkit [2]
            - allows to modify/select a “default” PDF attachment to be opened
        - ZoteroDuplicatesMerger [3]
            - easier merging of duplicates
        - zotero-folder-import [4]
            - bulk import PDFs from a folder
        - zotero-tag [5]
        - allows to add stars to items (Num Key `1`, `2`, `3` etc.)
            - example see [6]

    [1]: https://github.com/Rosmaninho/Zotero-Dark-Theme
    [2]: https://github.com/sharpevo/zotero-pdfkit/
    [3]: https://github.com/frangoud/ZoteroDuplicatesMerger
    [4]: https://github.com/retorquere/zotero-folder-import
    [5]: https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-tag
    [6]: https://ad.vgiscience.org/links/imgs/zotero_stars.webp

Re: Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

#14
post #7

I’m using Zotero + Obsidian for my academic work and PhD. If anyone is trying to work out a Zotero to Obsidian to Word/Libre Office workflow, give it a look. I’ve created a GitHub repo README with instructions on linking everything together. Hopefully someone finds this useful, happy for more contributions also (hence why used a repo to do this) https://github.com/evolve2k/obsidian-pandoc-academic-word-do...

+1 for Obsidian, though until now I haven't felt the need to write actual papers in. Zotero + latexmk + vim + Skim/SumatraPDF mostly scratches that itch for me.

Re: Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

#15
post #7

I’m using Zotero + Obsidian for my academic work and PhD. If anyone is trying to work out a Zotero to Obsidian to Word/Libre Office workflow, give it a look. I’ve created a GitHub repo README with instructions on linking everything together. Hopefully someone finds this useful, happy for more contributions also (hence why used a repo to do this) https://github.com/evolve2k/obsidian-pandoc-academic-word-do...

any examples of generated pdf ?

Re: Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

#16

Zotero is awful. It's heavyweight - in fact, a whole separate browser only to manage my bibligraphy (ever tried to use it with ~10k items?). Provides no CLI interface (to automate workflows with scripts). It's data model is weird - e.g., item types include such thing as "instant message", but more academia-relevant types (e.g., "dataset") are absent ("preprint" was incorporated only recently); ISSNs are treated as pr…

I had written a script to manage my pdf literature using crossref and arxiv to fetch metadata and store them in pdf tags, and just renaming the pdf in place. No hidden complexity, no gui.

I hacked it into a python package a couple of months ago in an ADHD hyperfocus induced frenzy. Sounds like you might like it. Still a long way to go, but it's out there and FOSS. Contributions are welcome.

https://github.com/jayghoshter/prem

Re: Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

#17
Obsidian has replaced all (work, home, mobile) note taking solutions everywhere for me. The last want from my side is removing the friction related to editing markdown tables (e.g. multi-line content in cells) - Obsidian has some plugins that makes things better but it is miles behind what, say, confluence wiki offers for tables.

Re: Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

#19

Obsidian has replaced all (work, home, mobile) note taking solutions everywhere for me. The last want from my side is removing the friction related to editing markdown tables (e.g. multi-line content in cells) - Obsidian has some plugins that makes things better but it is miles behind what, say, confluence wiki offers for tables.

Biggest issue I have with Obsidian is sharing notes with others. Conversely the crimes I am able to commit with the dataview plugin make it all worthwhile.

Re: Zotero Better Notes – Knowledge management inside Zotero

#20

Obsidian has replaced all (work, home, mobile) note taking solutions everywhere for me. The last want from my side is removing the friction related to editing markdown tables (e.g. multi-line content in cells) - Obsidian has some plugins that makes things better but it is miles behind what, say, confluence wiki offers for tables.

When tables get too complex (e.g. generated columns using dataview) I switch to embedding subnotes using the ![[]] syntax and "clean embeds" CSS [1].

[1]: https://kool.casa/notes/dft1156nwrunrsma9dmyegh/

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