it would be really cool to have the ability to integrate citations + bibliographies into scrivener, kinda like how zotero is integrated into word/google docs where you are able to hit ‘insert citation’ or ‘insert bibliography’ from the citations mentioned in the paper/work. im ngl the lack of citation management in scrivener is the main reason i’m still using google docs to write my academic papers, and i’d really like to do away with all things google soon… i’d imagine other people feel the same? idk i think it’d be very helpful because otherwise scrivener is underrated for academic writing, the pitfall is that there is no link to citation management software imo
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If you search the wish list / forum, you will see you are not the first to wish this wish.
You will also get this important bit of info: It is the makers of these citation managers who create these integrating plug-ins. For example, Microsoft did not make the plugins for Zotero or Endnote, the makers of the latter did. And it could hardly be otherwise.
Also, if you search the forum, you will also see lots of testimony on how people use their citation managers with Scrivener, as many do.
Having said that, there may be ways Scriv could make such integration more possible. Making a range of programmatic hooks available under the hood, or making Scriv Applescriptable. World enough and time, I suppose.
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oh right, my bad. sorry
From the discussion above it seems that one has to jump through a large number of hoops to get Zotero to work on Scrivener. And it may be that with Zotero’s next upgrade it will stop working in Scrivener and you will be back at square one.
I agree with Sauvito—
After being frustrated with Zotero I tried BookEnds and it just worked the first time and everytime. So I wonder why people struggle with Zotero when there are other options available? BookEnds is not free but very affordable. I am curious as to what is so special about Zotero that they would choose it rather than a friendlier solution?
“Free” is a powerful motivator.
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Works with Windows as well as MAC OS is another thing. No need to duplicate my database of citations just because I am on a Mac.
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Bookends is not an expensive program a few more bucks that Scrivener. How many hours are spent trying to get Zotero to work? Is their time not worth money? And then when Zotero is updated and their fix breaks….
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In that scenario it makes sense.
I love Bookends (on macOS but don’t forget how awesome the iOS client is too!), and for my workflow it is clearly superior to Zotero. But nevertheless each tool has some strengths and weaknesses.
- I think Zotero’s strengths lie is its “online” origins, so working on a common synced database while just about feasible in Bookends is much easier in Zotero (think supervisor and student working on a topic bibliography etc.).
- As Zotero is “open” it also attracts more integration projects, like there are a bunch of MCP servers for Zotero already, so integrating into an AI/agent workflow is easier.
- And the fact it afford cross-platform workflows as @Jestar mentioned (for cross-platform stuff in Bookends I use the continual export option to a JSON file and this is synced across my other systems and then use JabRef on the Linux/Win systems, and while sync is only one way it means my refs are on all my other systems).
But being opensource is also a major downside compared to Bookends; where the BE developers answer each and every question and fix bugs quickly. Scrivener and Bookends have amazing devs, and this really makes the user experience overall better. You get what you pay for.
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It may also be that they are pushed to use Zotero by the school or are unaware of other options. Or maybe they have a lot more time than money.
Jon at BookEnds is on top of things. He usually answers within one day often within one hour. You definitely get what you pay for.
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What about GitHub - Juris-M/zotero-odf-scan-plugin: RTF/ODF-Scan for Zotero add-on · GitHub (and also Overview | ODF/DOCX Scan for Zotero )? The plugin seems comptiable with Zotero 9 according to that discussion: RTF/ODF Scan for Zotero - Page 28 - Zotero Forums
I stumbled upon a great, detailed tutorial by Catherine Pope on the ODF/DOCX Scan plugin for Zotero. It was super helpful for me, so I’m sharing it here in case it helps others too: How to Use Zotero with Scrivener - Part 2 | Catherine Pope
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Thanks, I’ve added that link to the Zotero entry in the Scrivener reference manager wiki:
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While I’m not here to convince anyone to change their citation managers, I think “you get what you pay for” isn’t really fair or accurate here. Zotero is incredibly well-supported - to be honest, I’ve received faster support from the Zotero dev community that from L&L - and its upgrade cycle is now much faster than you’d expect, with major releases happening in less than a year: see Zotero Blog » Blog Archive » A Faster Release Cycle for Zotero .
Zotero is one of the most successful open source projects ever, with a healthy funding stream coming from its storage plans on top of initial grants from major non-profits (Mellon, Sloan, and Institute of Museum and Library Services.) They are closely tied to the Citation Style Language project and were the first citation manager to implement it, which even commercial products like Bookends uses.
The Zotero dev community is well-distributed, and like the ship of Theseus, survives the departure and arrival of multiple individuals (one weakness of L&L and some ‘cottage industry’ software is their dependence on the engagement and interest of very few, or even just one, individual.)
Nobody disrespects Zotero on my watch!
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My experience with Zotero was maddingly frustrating, jumping through so many hoops and getting nowhere. Just the opposite of Bookends which seemlessly worked with Scrivener. And judging from the description of the many steps required to get Zotero to work with Scrivener it is not at all appealing.
Regarding support, Jon at BookEnds is extremely responsive and often answers an email in hours, or at least by the end of the day. Good enough for me.
Don’t mind my saying this but Zotero is sub-optimal.
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sorry, I didn’t mean to offend anyone.
Zotero is a great project, and CSL alone is a major contribution for many who need bibliographies for their writing. As @FanLi mentioned, Jon at Sonny Software, which first released Bookends in 1984!!! is still going strong, and replies to every email usually in a few hours, as an academic he is really plugged in to his user’s needs. While Zotero has a plugin system, when some of us asked for the possibility of an MCP server for Bookends, Jon implemented it in less than a month! When I make a feature request, Jon will always evaluate it, he has implemented many and when he rejects them he gives clear justification.
Zotero has been a bit of a bumpy ride over the last 4 or so major version number releases (5 to 8). That is not the fault of the hard working volunteers, as they moved from a mostly Firefox plugin with a GUI to semi-stand-alone app to rearchitected app. These were major changes that caused for example the ODT workflow to break for some time. I agree the release cadence has really picked up which is cool while the plugins hopefully have less chance to break (I run the latest beta things seem calmer in terms of breaking changes). The fact they added citekeys is super awesome (more features from BBT would be great). I personally still find their database management tools weak to non-existent (how to reguarise author / journal / keywords across all existing references and other management needs), but then Bookends has weak to non-existent collaboration workflow, whereas Zotero excels!
Anyway, Zotero is great. Bookends is great. JabRef is great. Endnote still sucks. Mendeley is worse. 
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