Table of content

Overview

In this post, I dive into my journey with Zotero, a powerful open-source tool that has completely transformed the way I manage my research library. After trying Zotero in the past, I rediscovered its value when I found InfiniCLOUD, a WebDAV-based cloud storage solution, which resolved the storage limitations of Zotero’s free tier. By combining Zotero with InfiniCLOUD, I created a seamless workflow for organizing, syncing, and backing up my research materials, making the process more efficient and accessible across all my devices.

As I take on more research-oriented courses and events in my studies, having a reliable system for managing literature has become increasingly important. Zotero, paired with InfiniCLOUD, gives me the flexibility to access my materials anywhere and keep my research organized, allowing me to focus on my work without the constant stress of managing files. Whether I’m adding papers manually, using the Zotero Connector, or syncing across devices, the system has become an invaluable part of my research process.

Zotero

What is Zotero?

Zotero is a free, open-source research tool that helps you collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share research materials. It automatically senses research content as you browse the web, allowing you to save references with a single click. You can sort items into collections, tag them with keywords, and create saved searches that automatically populate with relevant materials.

Literature management with Zotero

Literature management is the process of collecting, organizing, and citing research materials, such as journal articles, books, and conference papers. It helps researchers, students, and writers keep track of their sources and streamline their work.

Why is it necessary?

At first, I thought simple file management—saving PDFs in folders or using Google Drive—would be enough to keep track of research papers. But as my collection grew, I quickly ran into limitations. Finding a specific paper became frustrating, remembering why I saved certain articles was a challenge, and keeping track of citations for writing felt like a mess. Manual organization just wasn’t scalable.

Realizing these challenges, I saw the importance of proper literature management. It’s not just about storing papers but being able to retrieve and use them effectively. A good system saves time, reduces frustration, and keeps research structured. That’s why tools like Zotero are valuable—they help organize references, sync across devices, and generate citations effortlessly. Switching to Zotero made a huge difference in how I handle research, making it smoother and more efficient.

Satisfaction of managing your own Library

Beyond just making research easier, there’s something satisfying about having a well-organized library. With Zotero, I know exactly where my papers are, why I saved them, and how to access them instantly. It feels like building my own personal collection of knowledge—much like how I manage my blog.

While my blog is mainly for sharing technical and informative content, it also doubles as a public repository of useful information for myself, accessible from anywhere. My Zotero library serves a similar purpose but for research—it’s a structured, personal archive that I can rely on, whether I’m deep in a project or just revisiting past studies. Having everything organized and easily retrievable gives me a sense of control and clarity that simple file management never could.

Adding papers to your Library

Automatically Metadata retrieval

One of the best parts of using Zotero is how effortlessly it handles adding research materials. If I have a PDF, I can simply drag and drop it into Zotero, or use the import function. Zotero will then automatically search for the relevant metadata, such as the title, author, and citation details—saving me from manually entering everything. I can even add multiple PDFs at once, and Zotero will do its best to find the details for all of them. Compared to just a file name in something like Google Drive, this is an absolute game-changer.

Zotero connector

While manual adding is already great, Zotero Connector takes it a step further. This browser extension lets me save papers, articles, and even webpages with a single click while browsing. It grabs the metadata, saves the full text if available, and organizes everything just like if I had added a PDF manually—but without any extra steps. Whether I’m on Google Scholar, ArXiv, or a journal website, I can instantly capture citations and full papers, making the whole process seamless.

Syncing papers across devices

Zotero’s supported platforms

One of Zotero’s biggest strengths is its syncing capability, ensuring my research library is always up to date across devices. The Zotero Desktop App is my main hub for managing and organizing references, but Zotero also has a Web App interface similar to Google Drive at https://www.zotero.org/yourusername/items and an official mobile app for iOS, allowing users to access and add materials on the go. While I won’t be diving deep into the mobile app since it’s currently only available on the App Store, an Android version seems to be on the way, which is promising for broader accessibility.

Zoo for Zotero

Since I don’t use iOS, I rely on Zoo for Zotero on my phone and tablet. It’s a third-party app that, while relatively primitive, still gets the job done—letting me browse my library, check citations, and access saved materials when needed. It might not be as polished as an official solution, but it’s enough to keep my references accessible when I’m away from my computer.

With this robust, accessible system in place, I feel like I have research materials at my fingertips whenever I need them. And with everything already streamlined, I can’t wait to eventually get something like a Kindle for reading—it would be the perfect addition to my workflow once I can afford it.

InfiniCLOUD

The workflow with Zotero—organizing, managing, and syncing research materials—would be almost perfect if it weren’t for one major limitation: Zotero’s free tier only includes 300MB of cloud storage. While this is enough for small-scale use, it quickly becomes a problem when syncing multiple devices with a growing library of PDFs.

It’s important to note that metadata retrieval and local storage are completely free, so if you only use Zotero on one device, this isn’t a huge issue. But for those who want seamless syncing across devices, hitting the 300MB cap happens fast.

I do want to note that I highly recommend supporting Zotero by subscribing to their built-in cloud storage service, which offers a generous amount of storage at a reasonable price. It directly funds Zotero’s development, helping maintain and improve the tool. Furthermore its open source the devs seem pretty based.

However, I completely understand that many—myself included—just can’t afford it yet. That’s where InfiniCLOUD comes in.

What is InfiniCLOUD?

InfiniCLOUD is a WebDAV-based cloud storage service that offers free and paid storage plans. Zotero allows WebDAV syncing, meaning you can store your PDFs and attachments on InfiniCLOUD instead of Zotero’s official cloud. This workaround effectively removes the storage limitation while still letting Zotero sync across devices as if you were using their paid plan.

It’s not a perfect solution—setup takes a few extra steps, and WebDAV services can sometimes be slower than Zotero’s native cloud. But for those who need more storage without extra costs, InfiniCLOUD is a great alternative until they can afford to support Zotero directly.

Integration with Zotero syncing through WebDAV

WebDAV (Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning) is a protocol that allows you to store and manage files remotely over the web, giving you more control and flexibility than regular cloud storage services. Unlike Google Drive, which is a cloud storage platform where you can simply upload and access files through an interface, WebDAV is designed to be integrated into applications for direct access to files via standard file management systems.

With WebDAV, you can use Zotero to store PDFs and sync your library seamlessly without needing a specific cloud service like Google Drive. While Google Drive offers easy-to-use storage and file sharing, WebDAV is more customizable and allows for integration with specialized tools like Zotero. Moreover, InfiniCLOUD offers 20GB of storage for their free tier—which i believe would satisfied any intended usage greatly.

WebDAV is indeed an older and more niche technology compared to more mainstream services like Google Drive, which made finding the right combination for Zotero and InfiniCLOUD a bit more challenging. While Google Drive is easy to use and widely supported, WebDAV’s customizability and integration capabilities make it ideal for specific workflows like Zotero’s—although its older, niche status means it’s not as widely adopted or as straightforward to set up.

Implementing your Workflow

Step by Step Guide

In this section, I’ll walk you through the process of setting up a seamless literature management system using Zotero and InfiniCLOUD, from start to finish. This step-by-step guide will cover everything you need to get started and ensure you have a robust system for organizing, syncing, and managing your research library.

Main Process

Step 1: Create an InfiniCLOUD account

Go to infini-cloud.net and create your InfiniCLOUD account, note that your User ID is your username, remember that.

Step 2: Get InfiniCLOUD Apps Connection credentials

Go to Your InfiniCLOUD Page and scroll down to Apps Connection, tick the box Turn on Apps Connection and something like this should show up:

WARNING: Upon loading this page for the first time, your password will be provided below this table, save it at a safe place as it will NOT be available upon subsequent visits. If you forgot or missed it, you will have to create a new one through the reissue button in the password row of the table.

By now, you should have noted down your username, your password, and the url.

Step 3: Log into Zotero and install the Zotero Desktop App

Zotero requires an Account to access its full capability, create an account and then install the Zotero Desktop App at zotero.org. The version you want is Zotero 7. After installation, launch Zotero.

Step 4: Choose your data directory

Zotero have a special way of storing your library, therefore if this your first time using Zotero, you will be asked to choose a folder to store all of your materials—it should be in a safe and separate location away from any direct modification.

Step 5: Configure Syncing

• In Zotero, on the top left you will see a few options: File, Edit, View, Tools, Help.
• You need to navigate: Edit -> Settings -> Sync.
• Here, you can log into your Zotero account under Data Syncing. Under Data Syncing, you have two tick boxes:
  • Sync automatically: Everytime you update something in your library, Zotero will automatically sync to the desired cloud service (The sync button is the circular arrows at the top right of the app).
  • Sync full-text content: This will sync all of your PDFs and such to the Zotero Web App interface through Zotero’s servers. I recommend turning this off as we are trying to establish a workflow with WebDAV cloud storage instead.
• Next, navigate to File Syncing, its just under Data Syncing by scrolling down.
• Tick Sync attachment files in My Library using and choose WebDAV instead of Zotero.

Step 6: Configure WebDAV connection

• Still under File Syncing, after choose WebDAV you will see a box appear with multiple fields, here are what you put in these:
  • In URL, choose https, then enter the url.
  • In Username, enter your username.
  • In Password, enter your password.

Then hit Verify Server, it should prompt File sync is successfully set up if everything was correct, click OK.

Test on other PC

To test your newly configured system, you can download the Zotero Desktop App on another machine, log in to your Zotero account and fill in the WebDAV credentials. Then you can sync your library to your new machine using the circular arrows button at the top right of the app.

Setup Zoo for Zotero

If you are using an Android device, go to your Play Store and install Zoo for Zotero. Upon first launch, log in to your Zotero account, then go to the Triple Dot at the top right and go to Settings.

Scroll down to the WebDAV section, go to Configure WebDAV and the credentials is similar to the process on PC. After configuring Zoo for Zotero, you can swipe down at the top of the page to sync your library.

Maintain Backups

When you’re dealing with an intricate system like Zotero, maintaining backups is crucial. Research libraries can grow significantly over time, and losing all that work—along with your carefully curated references—would be difficult to recover from. Backing up your Zotero library ensures that if something goes wrong, you can restore your data without the hassle of starting over.

Primers for Maintaining Zotero Backups:

• Cloud Syncing: If you’re using Zotero’s built-in cloud storage or a service like InfiniCLOUD, syncing your library regularly is the first step in ensuring a backup.
• Local Backups: Export your entire library periodically in Zotero RDF format or RIS format, which you can store safely on an external drive or cloud storage service.
• Automatic Backup Tools: Consider using third-party tools that automatically back up the folder where Zotero stores its database (e.g., via a backup service like Dropbox or Google Drive).

Conclusion

I hope this post has been as useful to anyone looking to dive deeper into research-oriented work as it has been to me. Finding the right tools for managing literature can make a huge difference in how you approach research, and I truly believe that Zotero, especially when paired with InfiniCLOUD, offers a robust, efficient solution.

I also want to encourage everyone to give reading research papers a try—don’t let them intimidate you. The process might seem overwhelming at first, but with the right tools and mindset, it becomes far more approachable. Research papers are where so much of the knowledge we build upon comes from, and starting that journey can lead to exciting discoveries. You don’t need to be a seasoned researcher to engage with academic work—just take that first step and explore.

I also want to give credit to Prof. Hoang Anh Duc, thanks to his personal portfolio webpage, I was able to discover this wonderful combination—Zotero and InfiniCLOUD.