Default templates

ZotLit ships a built-in Liquid default for every template. This page shows each default verbatim, explains what it renders, and names the document that holds it once you customize it.

A Profile document carries the note, content, filename, and annotation templates together. The citation text is its own document. Until a document exists, ZotLit renders the built-in text shown below. See Customize a template for how to create one.

Note templateCopy Anchor Link

In a Profile document: the note body, above the Annotation Section.

# {{ zt.title }}

[Zotero]({{ zt.backlink }}) {{ zt.attachments | map: "fileLink" | compact | join: " " }}

{% render "content" with zt as zt %}

Content templateCopy Anchor Link

In a Profile document: the end of the note body, written in place. The default has no {% managed %} block.

## Annotations

```zotquery
views:
  - type: annotations
    name: Annotations
    from: annotations
    filters: item == this.item
    sort:
      - property: attachment.dateAdded
        direction: ASC
      - property: sortIndex
        direction: ASC
```

The default body renders once, when ZotLit creates the note. After that it is yours: ZotLit: Update literature note refreshes the frontmatter and leaves the body as written. The default has no Notes list; see Import Zotero notes to bring child notes into the vault.

The annotation cards stay current with Zotero, and you can edit a comment or tags on a card in the note. A change you make in the block's toolbar, such as a new sort, changes the block text. ZotLit: Update literature note keeps the block text that the note holds, so your change stays.

A note that you made with an earlier default lists its annotations as text. When that note still has its managed region, its next update replaces that list with the block.

To list the annotations as text in the note, put the loop below in your own Profile in place of the block. Each annotation renders through the annotation template, and the render_annotation tag passes each annotation as zt. See Annotation rendering for the equivalent native syntax.

{% for annotation in zt.annotations %}
{% render_annotation annotation %}
{% endfor %}

Annotation templateCopy Anchor Link

In a Profile document: the Annotation Section, the final section after the standalone line --- zotlit:annotation ---.

{% bq %}
[!note] {% if zt.pageLabel and zt.pageLabel != "" %}Page [{{ zt.pageLabel }}]({{ zt.backlink }}){% else %}[Zotero]({{ zt.backlink }}){% endif %}

{{ zt.imgLink | embed }}{{ zt.text }}{% if zt.citation %} {{ zt.citation }}{% endif %}
{% if zt.comment %}

{{ zt.comment }}
{% endif %}
{% endbq %}

Rendered output for an annotation on page 42 of a paper with the citation key smith2024, with an image excerpt, highlighted text, and a comment:

> [!note] Page [42](zotero://open/library/items/ABCD2345?annotation=ANNX2345&page=42)
>
> ![[excerpt.png]]The highlighted passage [@smith2024, {p. 42}]
>
> My thoughts on this

The {% bq %} / {% endbq %} block tag handles the > prefix on every line and collapses consecutive blank lines into a single bare >.

Citation textCopy Anchor Link

In its own document, zotlit-citation.md in the template folder. One template answers both citation gestures, and zt.variant says which one the reader made:

{% if zt.variant == "alt" %}
  {{ zt.citations | pandoc_cite: "prefer-author-in-text" }}
{% else %}
  {{ zt.citations | pandoc_cite }}
{% endif %}

zt.variant is "main" or "alt". "main" comes from Enter in the citation suggester or the insert modal; "alt" comes from Shift+Enter, or from a trailing / in the suggester query. It names the gesture the reader made, and this template decides what each gesture renders. See Citation variant.

The else branch of the built-in default renders a bracketed Citation Cluster, such as [@smith2024, {p. 62}; -@doe2021]. The "alt" branch asks Pandoc for the author-in-text form, which falls back to a bracketed cluster whenever the first retained item carries a prefix or suppresses its author.

The pandoc_cite filter behaves the same in both branches:

ZotLit normalizes the rendered citation to inline form: leading and trailing whitespace is trimmed, and any whitespace run containing a line break collapses to a single space. This normalization applies everywhere a citation renders: the inline suggester, the command-palette picker, the zt.citation annotation field, Copy citation, and citation resolution during note import.

Only the Liquid edition is built in. The same template in Eta reads:

<% if (zt.variant === "alt") { %>
  <%= pandocCite(zt.citations, "prefer-author-in-text") %>
<% } else { %>
  <%= pandocCite(zt.citations) %>
<% } %>

Filename templateCopy Anchor Link

In a Profile document: the filename key of its YAML manifest. The Template Workbench View labels it Note name template.

The rendered output is the name part of a new note's path. ZotLit creates the note in the Profile's literature note folder, under this name.

{{ zt.citationKey | default: zt.DOI | default: zt.title | default: zt.key }}{% suffix %}

Live recompilationCopy Anchor Link

Editing a template document in your vault triggers live recompilation through a file watcher. Changes take effect immediately, without reloading the plugin. Moving a document to trash returns its templates to the built-in defaults shown above.

See alsoCopy Anchor Link