Literature notes and the managed region
How ZotLit identifies literature notes and uses a managed region to separate generated content from your own writing.
A literature note is an Obsidian Markdown file linked one-to-one with a Zotero item. ZotLit uses a marked region inside the note to keep Zotero-derived content up to date without overwriting anything you write yourself.
What makes a file a literature note
ZotLit identifies a literature note by a single frontmatter field: zotero-key. Any Markdown file in your vault that contains this field is treated as a literature note, regardless of filename or folder location.
---
zotero-key: ABC123XY
---The update and overwrite commands only appear in the command palette and context menu when the active file has a resolvable zotero-key.
The managed region
When ZotLit creates or overwrites a literature note, it places a managed region in the note body, delimited by comment markers:
%%zt-managed%%
...generated content...
%%/zt-managed%%ZotLit owns everything between these two markers. Your own writing goes above or below the managed region.
What the region contains
The managed region holds the output of the content template. With the default templates, this means a Notes section linking the item's Zotero child notes and an Annotations section with your PDF highlights rendered as callouts (each produced by the annotation template).
The title heading, Zotero backlink, and attachment file links are placed above the managed region by the note template at creation time. They sit outside the markers and are not touched by updates.
How updates use the region
ZotLit: Update literature note refreshes the
frontmatter with current Zotero metadata, then re-renders the content template
and replaces the managed region with the new output. Everything outside the
markers stays exactly as you left it. This is how ZotLit can pull in new
annotations or updated metadata without disturbing your own notes, links, or
tags.
ZotLit: Update literature note metadata is a lighter operation. It refreshes frontmatter only and never touches the note body.
Notes without a managed region
Notes created with ZotLit v1
Literature notes created with ZotLit v1 have a zotero-key and are recognized as literature notes, but they contain no managed region markers. Running ZotLit: Update literature note on a v1 note refreshes its frontmatter but leaves the body untouched, showing the notice "Frontmatter updated. No managed region found."
To recover the full update workflow on a v1 note, see Keep notes up to date.
Overwrite versus update
ZotLit: Overwrite literature note is a separate,
destructive command. It regenerates the entire note body from the note
template, discarding everything below the frontmatter block. Frontmatter keys
managed by ZotLit are refreshed; other frontmatter keys you added are kept. A
confirmation dialog gates the action.
Use Update for routine refreshes (safe, preserves your writing). Use Overwrite only when you want to reset the note body to match the current template output from scratch.