You can use Zotero to highlight and annotate attached full-text PDFs and extract highlighted text and annotations to notes with automatic citations. Notes can then be added in Word, OpenOffice, or Google Docs. All PDF annotations are automatically saved in Zotero.

Opening a PDF in Zotero

1. Double-click on a reference that has a PDF attachment and a new tab will appear within Zotero displaying the PDF file

Highlighting text in a PDF

1. Select the “Highlight Text” icon (  ) from the top menu bar in Zotero’s PDF reader
2. Select a highlighter color from the “Pick a Color” dropdown menu ( )
3. Click and drag to highlight text in the PDF.

Adding a note to a PDF

1. Select the “Add Note” icon (  ) from the top menu bar in Zotero’s PDF reader
2. Select a note colour from the “Pick a Color” dropdown menu (  )
3. Click the part of the PDF where you would like to add a note
4. Enter text in the “Add comment” field on the left

Capturing an image or table

1. Select the “Select Area” icon (  ) from the top menu bar in Zotero’s PDF reader
2. Select a border colour from the “Pick a Color” dropdown menu (  )
3. Click and drag a box around the image or table you would like to capture

Editing a highlight, note, or capture

1. Click the highlighted text, note, or capture to select options
   • Add or edit a comment – enter or edit text in the “Add comment” field
   • Change colour – click the three vertical dots above the “Add comment” field and select a new colour
   • Edit page number – click the three vertical dots and select “Edit Page Number…” to change page number
   • Delete – click the three vertical dots and select “Delete” to remove the highlight, note, or capture

Extracting highlighted text, notes, or captures to a note

1. Return to the Zotero Library by selecting the “My Library” tab near the top left corner of the window or by closing the opened PDF tab
2. Right-click the reference you annotated and choose “Add Note from Annotations”
3.  Annotations are extracted as a note attached to the reference

Complete Instruction

Task for learning: Open a full-text PDF in Zotero. Add at least one highlight then use Add Note from Annotation to create a note that contains the highlighted text.

Review question:

All Review Questions

If you have questions, or if you run into problems that the course does not address, e-mail the University of Ottawa Library at bibliolibrary@uOttawa.ca.

This online course is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Unless otherwise stated, it is attributed to Mish Boutet, and is based on handouts by Patrick Labelle (also under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

[How to Use Zotero online course updated: November 8, 2022]