Installation
In order to get started using BibNotes Formatter, you will need to download the following:
- BibNotes Formatter
- Zotero
- BetterBibTex
The plugin is currently not not registered as a standard community plugin for downloading or updating within Obsidian. In order to install, you need to:
- access the last version of the plugin on the github repository.
- download the bibnotes.zip file and unzip it into your vault's .obsidian/plugins/ directory. This folder can be accessed from Obsidian settings
- enable the plugin from the Obsidian settings.
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Zotero is a powerful and flexible open source reference manager, available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. In addition to storing bibliographical information on a wide range of sources, Zotero works as a database where you can store PDF files, annotations extracted from these files, and other notes. All these elements are used by BibNotes Formatter to generate literature notes.
You can download the latest version of Zotero (5.0) from the Zotero website.
In order to annotate PDFs directly from Zotero, you need to download the Zotero Beta versions of Zotero currently built from the development line for Zotero 6.
In order to import your references and notes from Zotero, you need to export your library as a "BetterBibTex JSON" format and save this file inside your vault. To do to follow these steps:
- install within Zotero the plugin "Better BibTex for Zotero". For more information on how to install the plugin see the instructions on the website of the plugin.
- in the main menu of Zotero go to File > Export Library (to export the entire library). It is also possible to to export a specific collection or group of references by selecting these, right-click, and then selecting "export collection" (in the case of a folder) or "export items" (in the case of a collection of references.
- select the export format "BetterBibTex Json".
- select "Export Notes" if you would like to import into Obsidian the annotation.
- (Optional) select "Keep updated" to automatically update the exported library once an entry is added/deleted/amended
- save the BetterBibTex JSON file in a folder within your Obsidian Vault
- in the plugin settings within Obsidian add the relative path within your vault of the library to be imported, as well as the relative path within your vault of the folder where you would like the literature notes to be stored.
