Create and open literature notes

Open an existing Literature Note or create one from its Zotero item.

Use the quick switcherCopy Anchor Link

The quick switcher searches your Zotero library and opens or creates a literature note for the item you pick.

It searches every library in your library scope at once, in one relevance order. While more than one library can contribute results, each row names the library its item comes from. An empty search lists papers by Last Activity, newest first. This is the same order as Recent in the Library View.

Choose the profile that creates the noteCopy Anchor Link

A profile supplies a note's name, folder, properties, and body. While your vault holds only the Default profile, the Default creates the note and ZotLit asks nothing.

Once you add a profile, ZotLit selects one by Profile Match:

• One profile matches the item: ZotLit creates the note from it, and the notice reports the match.
• Several profiles match, or none does: a picker opens. Select the profile for this note, or dismiss the picker to cancel the creation.

A profile that matches the item carries the Matches this item badge in the picker. When nothing matched, the Default is preselected. When several profiles match, ZotLit names them above the results and the search box reads Choose from matching profiles….

See Use a different template for different notes to add a profile and set the conditions that select it.

Browse the Library ViewCopy Anchor Link

The Library View lists your library in a tab, by collection, recent activity, or reading state. Its rows take the same keys as the quick switcher: Enter opens or creates the literature note. See Browse your library in the Library View.

Open the item's PDF in ObsidianCopy Anchor Link

A literature note's PDF attachment opens in Obsidian's own PDF reader, from the note, the quick switcher, or Zotero. See Open an item's PDF in Obsidian.

Open a note from a Pandoc citationCopy Anchor Link

Turn on Pandoc citations and Open citations as links under Settings > ZotLit > Citations. Pandoc citations is on by default, and Open citations as links is off by default.

Type or paste a Pandoc citation such as @key or [@key] in an editor.

• In Live Preview, click the citation to open or create its Literature Note.
• In Source mode, Ctrl-click the citation key. Use Cmd-click on macOS. A plain click places the caret.
• In reading view, click the citation. A single-item citation opens its Literature Note. A multi-item citation opens a menu.

You can also place the cursor on a recognized citation and run ZotLit: Open citation key under cursor. This command uses the same two settings.

ZotLit recognizes bare keys and citation clusters alike: @key, -@key, [@key], [@key, p. 3], and multi-cite [@a; @b].

A click resolves the citation key against Zotero's native citation key field, across every library in your Library scope (set at the top of Settings > ZotLit). When a Zotero item carries that key and already has a literature note, ZotLit opens the note. When the item exists but has no literature note yet, ZotLit creates one and opens it.

If the item is not found in your Zotero library, a notice appears: No Zotero item with citation key @…. If the database is unavailable, ZotLit shows Open the Zotero database to look up citation key @….

If several Zotero items carry that key, ZotLit asks which one you mean. A picker lists each item with its library and item key, and opens the one you choose. See A key that matches several items.

The four open-under-cursor commands use Open citations as links; what hovering shows follows Hover action instead. Show formatted citations does not control navigation.

Open citations as links covers Literature Note wikilinks shown as citations as well. For recognized syntax and the complete interaction model, see How in-text citation rendering and navigation work.

Find notes that cite a Literature NoteCopy Anchor Link

Open the Literature Note whose incoming citations you want to inspect. Run:

ZotLit: Show cited byCopy →

The Cited by Sidebar follows the active Literature Note. It groups citation occurrences by source note and shows the citation in its surrounding text.

Use the sidebar toolbar to narrow and arrange the results:

• Show search filter filters by source-note path or the shown citation context.
• Show more context expands every result from a compact excerpt to its enclosing Markdown block.
• Change sort order sorts source notes by file name, modified time, or created time, in either direction.
• Collapse results collapses or expands the visible source-note groups.

Select a citation excerpt to open its source note at that occurrence. Select Open source note on a group to open the note without targeting one occurrence. Hold Ctrl on Windows or Linux, or Command on macOS, to open either action in another pane.

Create or update notes in bulkCopy Anchor Link

You can create or update literature notes for many Zotero items at once from the Zotero right-click menu. This action requires the Companion.

Choose the profile for new notesCopy Anchor Link

Every new note is created from a profile, which decides its name, folder, properties, and body. When your vault holds added profiles, the confirmation carries a profile control for the new notes, above the item groups. Each control governs the rows it names:

• Unmatched or overlapping items (…) covers items that no profile matched, or that several profiles matched. Its help reads Use this profile when no profile matches or several profiles match..
• Unavailable profiles (…) covers items whose matched profile is unavailable. Its help reads The selected profile is unavailable. Choose a profile to create these notes..
• All new notes overrides matching for every new note in the batch.

A control names its profile once every row it governs agrees on one. The line under it reads Matched when Profile Match selected that profile. To change the profile for those rows, select the control and choose another; its tooltip names the rows it governs. See Use a different template for different notes for how matching picks a profile.

Update the entire library at onceCopy Anchor Link

Use this command to create or update literature notes for every item in your library at once.

Open the command palette and run:

ZotLit: Create or update all literature notesCopy →

Obsidian opens a confirmation modal that lists what will be created and what will be updated, and, when your vault holds added profiles, which profile creates the new notes. Review the list, then confirm to start the batch.

In Zotero, right-click My Library or a group library in the sidebar. Choose ZotLit > Create or Update Literature Notes.

The Obsidian command covers every library in your Library scope (set in Settings > ZotLit). The Zotero entry covers the library you right-clicked, whatever your library scope is.

Update one collection at onceCopy Anchor Link

In Zotero, right-click a collection in the sidebar and choose ZotLit > Create or Update Literature Notes. Obsidian opens the same confirmation modal, scoped to that collection.

Items in nested subcollections are included, so you do not need to repeat the action on each child collection.

If the collection no longer exists in your Zotero database, Obsidian reports Collection not found in Zotero.

Open or update a single item from ZoteroCopy Anchor Link

When exactly one regular item is selected in the Zotero library, the top-level context menu shows Open Literature Note in Obsidian. This creates the note if none exists, or opens the existing one. The behavior matches the quick switcher.

To choose where the note appears in Obsidian, open the ZotLit pane in Zotero's settings. Under Opening in Obsidian, set Open notes in to Active tab (the default), New tab, New tab group, or New window. See Where the link opens.

Update multiple items at onceCopy Anchor Link

How ZotLit identifies literature notesCopy Anchor Link

ZotLit identifies literature notes by their zotero-key frontmatter field. For details on note identity and the managed region, see Literature notes and the managed region.

See alsoCopy Anchor Link