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Zotero

Importing from Refworks

Importing References from RefWorks

It is important to export references saved in RefWorks into your new Zotero account before the end of January 2024 if you want to keep your existing references. Follow the steps below to import references into Zotero from RefWorks: 

  1. In RefWorks, click on the references you want to migrate. You can select each reference individually (if you only need certain ones) or you can select an entire folder. 
  2. Select "Export References" under the Share menu. 
  3. A pop up box will appear. Select either "All References in [title of folder here] folder" or "Selected References". Select "RIS Format"
  4. Then click Export. A file will be downloaded onto your computer. 
  5. Open the Zotero desktop program. 
  6. Click "File". Then click "Import". 
  7. Select "A file" (this has the RIS format listed). Click "Next"
  8. Select the file that was downloaded onto your computer. Click "Next"
  9. Your file will then be exported into Zotero where you can change the name of the folder. 

Follow these steps until all of your references are exported out of RefWorks.

Attaching documents to references in Zotero from Refworks: 

If you have articles attached to the refernces in RefWorks, they will not go with the references when you migrate from RefWorks to Zotero. If you want the attachments to go into Zotero, follow the steps below:

  1. Open your RefWorks account. 
  2. In the references that have PDFs attached to them, click on the reference and your article should pop up on the right side of the screen. 
  3. Click "Read". 
  4. Click the "download" button at the top of the screen and download the article to your computer. 
  5. Open your Zotero desk top program and get to the reference for the article you are downloading. 
  6. Right click on the reference. 
  7. Click "add attachment". Then select "attach stored copy of file".  Locate the downloaded article and click on it. You can also do a split screen for this process and select the article from the download icon at the top of the RefWorks screen to drag and drop into Zotero. 

When a PDF icon is on the reference, you'll know the article has been attached to the reference. 

Importing References from RefWorks to Zotero

Attaching Articles from RefWorks to Zotero