Citation Management

Exporting Tips

  • If you want to maintain the same RefWorks folder structure in your new citation manager:
    • Export each folder from RefWorks one at a time
    • Save each exported file with the same name as the original RefWorks folder for easy identification
  • File attachments (e.g. PDFs) will not be exported from RefWorks with your citations. To keep your file attachments:
    • Save all attachments to your computer
    • Import them separately into your new citation manager (e.g., Zotero). You can drag and drop PDFs to attach them to a citation)

 

Exporting from Legacy (Old) RefWorks

  1. Log into Legacy (Old) RefWorks
  2. There are 2 exporting options:
    1. Export all of your references at once (your folder structure will not be preserved):
      1. Click on the References tab
      2. Select All in list

  1. Export one folder at a time (your folder structure will be preserved): 
    1. Click on the Organize & Share Folders tab
    2. Select a folder from the list

  1. Click References, and then Export from the top navigation bar

  1. Choose the following options:
    1. References to include: All in list (if you are exporting all references at once) OR [folder name] (if you are exporting one folder at a time)
      • Note: If your export fails, export references in several batches of less than 200 each
    2. Select export format: Bibliographic Software
  2. Click Export References
  3. Your exported references will open in a separate browser window/tab and will resemble a text file
  4. In the separate browser window/tab, right click, select Save Page As, and save the page as a text (.txt) file
  5. Make note of where you save the file
  6. If exporting one folder at a time, repeat the above steps for each folder

Migrating to Zotero

  1. Open Zotero 
  2. Click File, then Import

  1. In the “Where do you want to import from” window, select A file and click Next

  1. Select the exported RefWorks file from your downloads folder, and click Open
  2. In the … window, you have the option to “Place imported collections and items into a new collection” (folders are called “collections” in Zotero)
    1. Select this option if you want your citations to be placed in a new folder
    2. Unselect this option if you want your citations to be placed in the Unfiled Items folder

  1. Once you have made your selection, click Next and then Finish when the import is complete 
  2. If importing more than one folder, repeat the above steps for each folder
  3. Your exported citations will be listed in your new folder or under Unfiled Items

Acknowledgement

Thank you to the Treadwell Library at the Massachusetts General Hospital for permission to reuse and adapt content from their Migrating from RefWorks to a Replacement subject guide (archived).