Zotero will work with Microsoft Word and LibreOffice/OpenOffice/NeoOffice to create bibliographies and insert in-text citations into your manuscript. To help you get started here are links to quick guides on using Zotero with word processors:
To use Zotero to format bibliographies and documents in Microsoft Word you need to first install the word plug-in. Prior to doing this you should review the Zotero documentation on Word processor integration.
*If you're running Zotero 5.0 or Zotero Standalone 4.0, the word processor plugins are bundled with Zotero and should be installed automatically for each installed word processor when you first start Zotero.
You can reinstall the plugins later from the Cite → Word Processor Plugins pane of the Zotero preferences. If you're having trouble, see Manually Installing the Zotero Word Processor Plugin or Word Processor Plugin Troubleshooting.
If you previously installed the Firefox versions of the word processor plugins into Zotero 5.0 or Zotero Standalone 4.0, you should uninstall them from Tools → Add-ons.
Once installed you should see the following Zotero toolbar in Word:
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Right Click on a Citation or List of Citations (Shift & Down Arrow to highlight the ones you want)
To create a bibliography or a citations list in Zotero, highlight one or more references and then right-click (or control-click on Macs) to select “Create Bibliography from Selected Item(s)…”. Then select a citation style for your citation/bibliography format and choose either to create a list of Citations/Notes or a Bibliography. Then choose one of the following four ways to create your citation/bibliography:
2. Choose the Citation Style and Copy to Clipboard for pasting into a document or email.
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3. Paste into the document.
1. Go to the place in your word document that you would like to insert the parenthetical citation. Select the Add/Edit Citation button on the Zotero or Add-ins toolbar.
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2. Select the citation style from the list and click OK.
3. A search box will pop that will allow you to search your Zotero library by author, title, keyword, etc. Search and select the citation you want to add. You will need to add in the page number if it is a direct quote.
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4. Once you have made your selection, click on the citation in the search box and it will open up a screen so you can add page numbers.
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1. Go to the place in your word document that you would like to insert the footnote. Select the Add/Edit Citation button on the Zotero or Add-ins toolbar.
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2. Select the footnote citation style from the list and click OK.
3. A search box will pop that will allow you to search your Zotero library by author, title, keyword, etc. Search and select the citation you want to add.
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4. Once you have made your selection, click on the citation in the search box and it will open up a screen so you can add page numbers.
5. Your formatted footnote will now appear in your Word document.
1. After inserting citations into your document, go to the Zotero tab or Add-ins tab on a Mac. Choose the Insert Bibliography option.
2. The bibliography will appear at the end of your document.
Zotero can be used with Google Docs in the same way as with plain-text documents or emails. See the screencast on Zotero and Google tools.
To use a different style, change your Quick Copy settings in the Export pane of the Zotero preferences.
At the moment there is no way to get an automatically updating bibliography in a Google Docs document. (There are several requests to the Google Docs team for allowing Zotero integration.)
One possible workaround is to write citations such as “{Smith, 2000}”, export from Google Docs to Rich Text Format (RTF), and use Zotero's RTF Scan feature. You'll have to do this each time you want to see your bibliography, though.
As a more convenient and reliable alternative to the built-in RTF Scan feature, the RTF/ODF-scan plugin for Zotero is also available.
