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Browser Window and Adding from a URL

There are two ways to bring a reference in from the web: Add Reference from URL and the browser window. Both use the same web translators (Zotero's translators) to read the bibliographic data of a page into a reference.

Adding from a URL

Choose Add Reference from URL in the library and enter a web address. The application downloads the page, reads the reference with a translator that suits it, and saves it. If a page offers several references (a search results page, for example), a window opens in which you tick which ones to save. When no translator can recognize the page, you are told that no translator recognized the page; you can then use the browser window, which saves a Web Page reference when it cannot recognize a page.

Two settings under File Handling on the General page of the settings control the attachments: "Automatically attach associated PDFs and other files when saving references" and "Automatically take snapshots when creating references from web pages".

When a site requires you to sign in (401, 403, 407), the message box offers "Open in Browser Window"; sign in there and then save.

The browser window

File > Open Browser Window opens a simple browsing window: an address bar, back, forward, reload or stop, and a Save to Library button. It is for browsing sites that need a login or subscription databases, and saving a reference when you see one. It is not a full browser: no tabs, bookmarks, history or password manager.

Save to Library reads the page you are looking at and reads the reference from it with a translator; it is saved into the collection that the library window had selected at the time. When the page is a PDF or another document, it is saved as a standalone attachment. The browser window and Add from URL share the same cookies, so once you sign in in the browser window, adding from a URL carries your login too.

Human verification

Some sites require a human verification (a bot-check page, for example) before a page or PDF can be downloaded. The application first lets the page run its verification in a window you cannot see; if that does not pass, a visible window opens so that you can complete the verification yourself, and the application never clicks or fills in anything for you. After the verification the original request is retried once.

If verification keeps failing, use the browser window to browse and save there.

Institutional proxies

Access to journals through a school or institution subscription often goes through a URL-rewriting proxy such as EZproxy, or through OpenAthens. The Settings > Proxies page manages them:

  • Enable proxy redirection: when on, the browser window goes through a proxy automatically when it reaches a site associated with one; "Show a notification when redirecting through a proxy" decides whether you are told at the top of the window.
  • Automatically detect new proxies: when the browser window sees that you signed in through a new proxy (an EZproxy login page, or an OpenAthens redirect), the top of the window asks whether to accept it, and you confirm once more before it is saved. Accept only proxies that your library, school or institution links from its own site; other proxies would let a malicious site impersonate sites you trust.
  • Configured Proxies: each proxy has a type (URL-rewriting proxy or OpenAthens), a login URL scheme and a proxied URL scheme, in which %h (host name), %p (path) and %u (the encoded complete original URL) can be used; the host list below it holds the sites associated with the proxy and can be edited. "Don't Proxy This Site" in a notification excludes a site.
  • Disable proxy redirection when my domain name contains: on a campus network no proxy is needed, and the domain name of this computer can be used to detect that and switch redirection off.

A reference obtained through a proxy is saved with the original address, not the address rewritten by the proxy. If a proxy redirect is found to loop, the application stops redirecting automatically for the time being and the page offers "Re-enable proxy redirection".