A free zettelkasten-backed workflow for research using Zotero and Obsidian
For those in academia, reading papers and managing references is everyday work. And everyday work needs a frictionless, simple but robust workflow. A bonus would be if the entire set-up is free.
What I use, and outline below, is a fairly simple and flexible workflow that is cross-platform and free*. It relies on a couple of apps and the cloud storage service I use anyway for everything else in my life. I do have a few requirements from this set-up which I shall discuss presently.
*Free with a caveat: the idea here is that you rely on something you already use to sync your files rather than pay Zotero extra for it.
The apps
Zotero is an excellent and capable cross-platform reference manager with some nifty features like fetching metadata automatically, notes and annotation features built into the core app, a web clipper also built into the app, and integration with Open Office and Word also built into the app. Zotero offers free sync for up to 300 MB and charges for larger sync sizes.
Obsidian is another excellent app—a text editor that handles automatic back-linking and is insanely flexible. I use it pretty much out of the box with one exception: a plugin to sync my Kindle highlights and notes automatically for…
