# Intro to Zotero Zotero is an open-source citation management software. # Create ZotFile to choose attachments directory (optional) ZotFile is a Zotero plugin to manage your attachments, allowing you to store your PDFs outside of the Zotero database. This is useful since Zotero has a 300MB storage limit and charges for higher storage limits. [Download the .xpi file on zotfile.com](https://zotfile.com/) and install into Zotero. # Install Better BibTeX for citekey generation Better BibTeX is a plugin for Zotero that helps to generate unique citation keys for your Zotero citations. Citation keys are important for uniquely identifying citations in Zotero. Follow the instructions to [download and install the the Better BibTex plugin](https://retorque.re/zotero-better-bibtex/installation/index.html). Once installed, Better BibTeX will be available for configuration in the Zotero settings page. There, you can set different configurations, including using an API to create your own citation key formula. For example, the below citation key formula creates generates a citekey like so: `Borodistky.SexSyntaxSemantics.2003` ```javascript auth + // author's last name '.' + shorttitle(3,3).lower.capitalize + // "ALL CAPS TITLES" => "AllCapsTitles" '.' + year // year of publication ``` # Use Zotero Integration (Plugin) You'll want to create a template file for import. For example: [[Source Template]] YouTuber Tony Ramella recommends [titling your notes after the citekey](https://youtu.be/XY7NfgtnT6A?si=OazJxfbvnUmey_-m&t=813); that way you know the difference between a source note and a main note.