Create and open literature notes
Open an existing literature note or create one from a Zotero item using the quick switcher or a clickable citekey.
ZotLit treats opening and creating a literature note as a single gesture. If a note already exists for a Zotero item, ZotLit opens it. If not, ZotLit creates the note and then opens it.
Use the quick switcher
The quick switcher searches your Zotero library and opens or creates a literature note for the item you pick.
Open the quick switcher
Open the command palette (Ctrl+P on Windows/Linux, Cmd+P on macOS) and run:
Search and select an item
Type to search your library. Use the arrow keys to navigate the results.
- Press
Enterto open the literature note. - Press
Ctrl+Enter(Cmd+Enteron macOS) to open it in a new pane. - Press
Escto dismiss the switcher.
If the item already has a literature note, ZotLit opens it. Otherwise ZotLit creates the note first, showing a brief "Creating literature note..." notice, followed by "Literature note created."
Open a note from a citekey
When you type or paste an @citekey in the editor, ZotLit makes it clickable. Click the citekey to open or create the corresponding literature note.
ZotLit recognizes Pandoc-style citekeys: @ followed by key characters, including bracketed forms like [@key], [@key, p. 3], and multi-cite [@a; @b], as well as bare @key.
If the item is not found in your Zotero library, a notice appears: "No Zotero item with citekey @{citekey}." If the database is unavailable, ZotLit shows "Open the Zotero database to look up @{citekey}."
Citekey clicks resolve against the Default library setting at the top of Settings > ZotLit.
How ZotLit identifies literature notes
ZotLit identifies literature notes by their zotero-key frontmatter field. For details on note identity and the managed region, see Literature notes and the managed region.