FAQ Switching from Citavi to Zotero

Zotero is an open source programme that is platform-independent
(Windows, macOS, Linux) (Windows, macOS, Linux). It offers automatic updates and an active
Developer and user community. The campus licence for Citavi at H-BRS ends
on 31 January 2025 on 31 January 2025

Attention: After 31 January 2025, access to the cloud projects
is no longer possible possible! Please back them up locally in advance or transfer them to your new
licence Licence
As a private individual (student) you can licence Citavi for 12 months for €73.
Citavi also currently offers a 30-day free trial licence. To register
you need an email address (not your student email address!). In
both cases you can continue working on locally saved projects.

The following are included:
- Literature sources with all bibliographic data
- Quotations and comments as notes
- Assignments (but without reference to the title or project)
- PDF documents including the markings, however, the attachments
may need to be may need to be checked and re-linked manually in Zotero

The following are not transferred:
- Categories or keywords that you have added to knowledge items (e.g.
citations or comments) in Citavi Citations or comments) in Citavi.
- Assignments to a source in knowledge items (e.g. in citations or
Comments)
- Images
- References to other sources created with Citavi

Install a programme on your computer that can unzip ".bak" files
can. We recommend the programme 7-Zip. This programme is pre-installed on Windows
Computers with Windows 10 already pre-installed.

You must unzip the backup file ".ctv6bak" before importing it into Zotero
unzip it. To do this, use the 7-Zip programme in Windows. Unzip the
".ctv6bak" file into a folder of your choice. Now you can import the unzipped ".ctv6" file into Zotero File into Zotero.

Zotero uses the Citation Style Language (CSL) for citation styles, which offers a
wide selection and easy customisation options. Many of the common
Styles are already available and it is easy to create or
customise your own styles customise.

Zotero offers plugins for Microsoft Word and LibreOffice, which are automatically available after installing Zotero. You can configure the plugins in the Zotero settings.

In Zotero you can organise your literature in collections and subcollections
organise them. Tags and notes also help to keep your literature structured and
searchable. Zotero also offers a search function that works across all database entries

Frequent problems are incorrect exports, lost data or difficulties with integration with word processing programmes. It is important to check the data thoroughly after importing it into Zotero.

Zotero offers the option of storing your data in the cloud, which makes it secure
and accessible from anywhere. It is recommended to create regular backups of your
Zotero database to prevent data loss.

Zotero is available free of charge. However, there are optional paid upgrades for additional cloud storage.