Zotero plugins are add-ons that give Zotero features it doesn't have on its own. Examples are readable citation keys for LaTeX, tidy PDF file names, richer notes and text recognition for scanned PDFs. The plugins most researchers need first come with Zotero itself: the Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs plugins that insert citations and build your reference list. Community plugins are optional, and you install each one from a single file.
The bundled plugins cover citing. Community plugins add citation keys, attachment handling, note templates, translation and OCR. Each one is worth a few checks before you add it to the library you've built over years. If you're still choosing a reference manager, our comparison of Zotero vs Mendeley vs EndNote covers cost, storage and sharing.
Which plugins come with Zotero?
Zotero includes plugins for Microsoft Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs that don't need to be installed manually. The documentation for Zotero states that the word processor plugins ship with Zotero and should be installed automatically for each supported word processor on your computer. If a plugin is missing, you can reinstall it in the Cite pane of the Zotero settings, under Word Processor Plugins.
The browser extension is separate. It's called the Zotero Connector, and Zotero's download page offers it for Chrome, Firefox and Edge. The Safari version is bundled with Zotero, and you switch it on from the Extensions pane in Safari's settings. The Connector saves items and PDFs from web pages into your library, and it also adds Zotero to Google Docs.
All others are community plugins. These are enhancements, new features and interfaces with other programs, written by people in the Zotero user community. There isn't an official list published by Zotero. Most plugins are announced and discussed on the Zotero Forums. All the plugins listed here can be downloaded from their developers' GitHub pages.
| Type | Examples | How you get it |
|---|---|---|
| Word processor plugins | Word, LibreOffice, Google Docs | Installed with Zotero (Google Docs through the Connector) |
| Browser extension | Zotero Connector | Zotero's download page, or bundled with Zotero for Safari |
| Community plugins | Better BibTeX, Attanger, Better Notes | An .xpi file from the plugin's own page |
Zotero plugins for Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs
The Word plugin adds a Zotero tab to Microsoft Word. You cite from that tab while you write, and each citation stays linked to its item in your library. A refresh updates the citation and the reference list in your document when you correct an author's name or a year in Zotero.
The tab has five buttons, and each one does a single job.
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Add/Edit Citation | Inserts a citation at the cursor, or edits the one you clicked |
| Add/Edit Bibliography | Inserts or updates the reference list |
| Document Preferences | Changes the citation style and other settings for this document |
| Refresh | Updates every citation and the bibliography from your library |
| Unlink Citations | Turns citations into plain text by removing the field codes |
Unlink Citations needs care. According to Zotero's documentation, removing the field codes is irreversible and should usually be done only on a final copy of a document. Once you unlink, Zotero can't update those citations again. Make sure to keep a linked version of your thesis, and unlink a copy when you need a version without field codes.
You change the style in Document Preferences. Pick the new style, and Zotero formats every citation and the reference list in that document to match it. A reference list built this way is much easier to move from APA to Vancouver than one typed by hand. Our APA 7 citation guide shows what correct output looks like, so you can spot an entry that came out wrong.
Zotero also has a classic citation dialog. You can switch to it by clicking the Z icon on the left of the citation box, or make it permanent with the setting "Use classic Add Citation view".
Google Docs
Zotero works in Google Docs using the Zotero Connector for Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari. The Connector adds a Zotero menu to Google Docs and a toolbar button for one-click citing. The menu has the same jobs as the Word tab: add or edit a citation, add or edit the bibliography, preferences, refresh and unlink. You need to have the Zotero app open only when you insert or edit citations.
LibreOffice
The LibreOffice plugin comes with Zotero in the same way as the Word plugin. If it goes missing, you reinstall it from the same Cite pane in the Zotero settings.
A Zotero plugins list for citations, PDFs and notes
The community plugins below each solve one problem in a writing workflow: citation keys, attachments, notes, translation or scanned PDFs. Each description here comes from the developer's own page.
| Plugin | What it does | Useful when | Extra setup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Better BibTeX | Stable citation keys and auto-exported .bib files | You write in LaTeX or Markdown | None |
| Attanger | Attaches, renames and files PDF attachments | Your PDFs need tidy names and folders | Choose a file mode |
| Better Notes | Note templates, linked notes, Markdown sync | You draft literature notes in Zotero | None |
| Translate for Zotero | Translates selected PDF text, titles and abstracts | You read papers in another language | Pick a translation service |
| Zotero OCR | Adds recognized text to scanned PDFs | Your PDFs are scans you can't search | Install Tesseract and pdftoppm |
Better BibTeX: citation keys for LaTeX and Markdown
Better BibTeX is an extension for Zotero, which simplifies management of bibliographic data for those who write in text-based editors (such as LaTeX or Markdown). Better BibTeX gives every item a unique, non-clashing citation key. You can create your own key patterns using a citekey formula. Better BibTeX can export your collection or entire library to a .bib file, and keep this file up to date when your library changes.
Auto-export saves LaTeX users a manual step. You point a local LaTeX project at the exported .bib file, and new references appear in it after each change in Zotero. Better BibTeX also converts between Unicode characters and LaTeX on import and export, so accented author names come out in a form LaTeX accepts.
A plugin might not be what you want if you only need a couple of BibTeX entries for a single paper. Our free BibTeX generator takes either DOIs or plain references and creates BibTeX entries for them. You can download a .bib file that contains your references, with no account. Our guide to proofreading a LaTeX paper in Overleaf provides advice on how to check your LaTeX document without breaking the math and is useful for LaTeX papers.
Attanger: renaming and filing PDFs
Attanger (short for Attachment Manager) is a tool that organizes Zotero attachments. It attaches your recent downloads, matches files to items and renames them with Zotero's own filename templates. It also files them in a predictable folder structure, as a move or a copy. The developer states that Attanger is inspired by the ZotFile attachment workflow.
You choose one of three modes. Files can stay in Zotero's storage, move to an outside folder as linked files, or stay in Zotero with a one-way copy in an outside folder. The outside-folder modes suit people who keep their PDFs in a cloud drive. Attanger's page says it supports Zotero 7 through 10.
Better Notes: literature notes inside Zotero
Better Notes describes itself as "Everything about note management. All in Zotero." It adds note templates that pull an item's details and your annotations into a note, which helps when you summarize a paper or compare two. You can link notes to each other and export them to Markdown, Word (.docx), PDF or a mind map. It can also keep notes in two-way sync with Markdown files, so a note you edit in a Markdown app updates in Zotero.
Better Notes is the one to try first if you write a literature review from your Zotero notes. Our guide on how to speed up your literature review covers the reading and summarizing side.
Translate for Zotero: reading papers in another language
Translate for Zotero (also called Zotero PDF Translate) is an extension that allows you to translate text you select in Zotero's PDF reader. It displays the result in a pop-up and in the item pane. It can also translate titles and abstracts, add translations to your highlight comments, and look up single words in a dictionary. The page lists over 20 translation services, such as Google Translate, DeepL and Microsoft Translate. The plugin is open source under the AGPL-3.0 license.
This plugin helps researchers who read sources in a second language. A translation is for reading, so check any passage you plan to quote against the original text before you cite it.
Zotero OCR: making scanned PDFs searchable
Zotero OCR runs text recognition on PDFs you select in Zotero. It can save a new PDF with the recognized text, a note with only the text, or HTML files. The recognition itself is done by Tesseract. You install Tesseract and the pdftoppm tool from Poppler before the plugin works, and you can set their paths in the plugin's settings.
Scanned book chapters and older articles often come as page images with no text layer. After OCR, Zotero can search those files and you can select and annotate their text. Check any quotation against the page image before you use it, since OCR output can contain recognition errors.
Check the references in your list
Paste your reference list into the free AI Citation Checker. Each entry is checked against open databases such as Crossref and Semantic Scholar, with no sign-up and up to 100 references per run.
Check my referencesHow to install Zotero plugins from GitHub
Every plugin in this guide installs from an .xpi file that its developer publishes on the plugin's GitHub releases page. The steps are the same for each one.
- Open the plugin's GitHub page, go to Releases and download the .xpi file from the latest stable release.
- If you use Firefox, right-click the link and save the file. Better BibTeX's install page asks for this, because the plugin installs in Zotero.
- In Zotero, open the Tools menu and choose Plugins.
- Click the gear icon in the top-right corner, choose Install Plugin From File and pick the .xpi file. Zotero's plugins page also lets you drag the file onto the Plugins window.
- Restart Zotero if the plugin asks you to.
Use a beta build only if you run a Zotero beta. Better Notes, for example, says its beta build is for Zotero beta only. For everyone else, the latest stable release is the one to download.
What to check before you install a Zotero plugin
Zotero's own plugins page warns that plugins have full access to your Zotero and your computer, and it advises installing them only from developers you trust. A plugin can read and change your whole library. Check who maintains it, when its last release came out, and if its page lists your Zotero version before you install it.
Version support matters because plugins are written for specific Zotero versions. On 10 November 2026, Zotero's download page offered Zotero 10. Plugin pages state their own ranges: Attanger says it supports Zotero 7 through 10, and Better BibTeX says Zotero 7 is no longer supported. A plugin written for an older version may not install, or may stop working after a Zotero update.
Install one plugin at a time and try it on a test collection before you let it rename files or change notes across your library. That way if something goes wrong, you'll know which plugin caused it. Attanger can relocate and rename files, so start with the mode that keeps a copy before you pick one that relocates them.
Which Zotero plugins fit your writing workflow?
The right plugins depend on where you write and what you read. Many Word users need nothing beyond the bundled plugin and the Connector.
| Your workflow | Plugins to consider |
|---|---|
| Thesis in Word or LibreOffice | The bundled word processor plugin and the Zotero Connector |
| Group paper in Google Docs | The Zotero Connector, which adds the Zotero menu to Docs |
| LaTeX paper | Better BibTeX for citation keys and auto-exported .bib files |
| Large PDF library | Attanger for names and folders, Zotero OCR for scanned files |
| Literature review notes | Better Notes for templates and Markdown export |
| Sources in other languages | Translate for Zotero for selected text, titles and abstracts |
Add a plugin when you have a problem it solves. Each extra plugin is one more thing to keep updated when Zotero changes, and one more program with access to your library. A short list that you understand is easier to fix when something breaks before a deadline.
How to check the references Zotero builds for you
Zotero formats what's in your library, so a wrong year, a misspelled author or a missing DOI goes straight into your reference list. None of the plugins listed in this guide check whether a reference is correct. Open a sample of entries and compare them with each article's own page before you submit.
References copied from an AI chat tool need more care. A reference that looks complete can point to a paper that doesn't exist, and Zotero formats it like any other item. Our free AI citation checker checks each entry in a reference list against open databases such as Crossref and Semantic Scholar. It needs no sign-up and takes up to 100 references per run.
For a single missing reference, the DOI to citation converter builds a formatted citation from a DOI. When your list is ready, our guide on how to alphabetize references explains the ordering rules in APA, MLA and Chicago, so you can confirm the order Zotero produced.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Is there an official Zotero plugins directory?
No. Zotero's plugins page says Zotero doesn't currently provide a list of available plugins. Most plugins are announced and discussed in the Zotero Forums. Each developer makes their downloads available on the plugin's own page, typically on GitHub. Before installing a plugin, check its page to see which Zotero versions it works with.
Q: Are there Zotero plugins for Chrome?
Yes. Zotero's browser extension for Chrome is called the Zotero Connector, which you can also get for Firefox and Edge on Zotero's download page (the Safari version comes with Zotero). The Zotero Connector allows you to save items and PDFs from web pages to your library and add Zotero to Google Docs. Community plugins such as Better BibTeX are installed directly in the Zotero app.
Q: Are Zotero plugins safe to install?
Plugins have full access to Zotero and to your computer, as Zotero's own plugins page warns. Install plugins only from developers you trust, download them from the plugin's official page, and check that the page lists your Zotero version. Try each new plugin on a test collection first.
Q: Do I need to install the Zotero plugin for Word?
Usually not. Zotero includes Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs plugins. Zotero's documentation indicates that the word processor plugins should be installed automatically for each supported word processor. If you don't see the Zotero tab in Word, try to reinstall the plugin from the Cite pane of the Zotero settings, under Word Processor Plugins.
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