This section covers the basic functions of the Zotero reference manager. This assumes that you have
downloaded a desktop interface and
created a free account. I suggest selecting the
Standard
installation when prompted. Once you have created an account, be sure to sign in to your desktop interface so your entries sync to the cloud. Desktop Zotero will function just fine without being logged in; but you risk data loss in the event of a crash. Syncing can be done by opening your desktop interface, navigating to
Edit -> Preferences -> Sync
, and logging in to your account. While downloading the desktop, it's also useful to
install the Zotero Connector onto your web browser. This will be necessary for automatically importing references, a process I will describe later.