Plenty of people collect papers in Zotero and write notes in Obsidian. They are separate programs, so you either commit to one of them or build a bridge. There are three ways to bridge them, and they differ in setup effort and in how easily they break.
The three approaches compared
| Approach | Setup effort | Keeping up to date | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| A plugin | About 30 minutes | Re-import picks up changes | People reading papers continuously |
| Exporting BibTeX | 5 minutes | Export again when needed | People who need it only while writing |
| No connection | None | Paste by hand | People handling a few dozen papers |
Each is described below. You can skip to the one that matches your situation.
Approach 1: a plugin
You install a plugin in Obsidian that reads your Zotero library, creates one note per paper, and fills it with bibliographic details and your highlights.
Three things are needed.
- Zotero itself. Some import paths expect Zotero to be running, so leave it open while you work.
- Better BibTeX. This is a Zotero extension. Its job is to keep citation keys stable. Without it, keys can change as you add papers.
- An Obsidian plugin. Pick one of the literature-import plugins from the community listing.
The setting that matters most is the note template. It should hold the title, authors, year, abstract, and a place for your own notes. Changing the template later does not rewrite notes you have already created, so settle it before you start importing.
What breaks
- Citation keys change. Starting without Better BibTeX breaks the links between notes. Install it first.
- Duplicate notes for one paper. This happens when an import runs twice. Naming note files after the citation key prevents it.
- Nothing happens when Zotero is closed. Some plugins fail silently in that case rather than reporting an error.
Approach 2: export BibTeX
Rather than maintaining a live connection, export from Zotero when you need to.
- Right-click a collection in Zotero.
- Choose to export the collection.
- Select BibTeX as the format and save.
- Put the file inside your Obsidian vault.
That is all. In your notes you refer to papers by citation key, typed by hand. If
you write in LaTeX, your manuscript can reference the exported .bib directly.
The advantage is that very little can break. The cost is re-exporting whenever you add papers in Zotero. If you only need this in the weeks before a deadline, it is enough.
The export steps are covered in exporting BibTeX citations.
Approach 3: do not connect them
With a few dozen papers, not connecting them is often faster.
Write the title, the DOI, and your own notes into an Obsidian note. Leave formatting the bibliography until you are writing the manuscript. Nothing needs configuring, and nothing breaks when a plugin updates.
Somewhere past a hundred papers, the manual effort exceeds the setup effort. That is the point to move to approach 1 or 2.
Choosing
Working through these in order usually settles it.
- If you read papers every week, use approach 1. The 30 minutes of setup pays back within a few months.
- If you read papers but do not keep one note per paper, use approach 2.
- If your project involves a few dozen papers and then ends, use approach 3.
If you are unsure, start with approach 2. The exported .bib is still useful if
you later move to approach 1.
Or keep it in one place
If the place you find papers and the place you write notes are the same, there is nothing to bridge.
In Litlas you can search for a paper, save it, and write notes on it in one place. You can follow the citation graph to related papers and save those from the same screen. It exports to both BibTeX and RIS, so you can still hand your references to Zotero or Obsidian when you write. The free plan needs no card and works right away.
ā Try Litlas now
If you already have several hundred papers in Zotero, bridging with approach 1 or 2 is the realistic path. If you are just starting to collect, keeping everything in one place is an option.