Automating a Reading Note Template Generation Using Zotero Metadata

I wanted to easily write some notes for any article when I feel like it, in the same way I already do with anything else. However, I wanted to have a template with some metadata about the article. This metadata would contain elements like the title, the publication date, keywords, URL, and abstract.

Requirements

• Zotero
• BetterBibTex
• A script to parse the BetterBibTex export and generate the notes

Workflow

I use Zotero and the “Save to Zotero” web browser extension to archive articles I might be interested in reading.

This workflow also needs the BetterBibTex plugin for Zotero, which allows me to export the metadata of the articles in a format that I can easily parse. BetterBibTex automatically updates the export file when I add an article in Zotero.

Now, when I want to write some notes on an article, here is what I do:

• Open the BetterBibTex export file.
• Search for the article I want to write about.
• Select the metadata.
• Run a script that generates a note template with the selected metadata.

I manage my notes with my zettelkit tool and write in Vim.