We are excited to announce the launch of Zotero 2.0, which introduces a powerful slate of new features, including:

Syncing

• Automatic synchronization of collections among multiple computers. For example, sync your PC at work with your Mac laptop and your Linux desktop at home.
• Free automatic backup of your library data on Zotero’s servers.
• Automatic synchronization of your attachment files to a WebDAV server (e.g. iDisk, Jungle Disk, or university-provided web storage).

People

• Zotero users get a personal page with a short biography and the ability to list their discipline and interests, create an online CV (simple to export to other sites), and grant access to their libraries.
• Easily find others in one's discipline or with similar research interests.
• Follow other researchers–and be followed in return.

Groups

• Create and join public and private groups on any topic.
• Access in real time new research materials from your groups on the web or in the Zotero window.
• Easily move materials from a group stream into your personal library.

Even More Functionality That Makes Your Life Easier

• Automatic detection of PDF metadata (i.e., author, title, etc.).
• Automatic detection and support for proxy servers.
• Trash can with restore item functionality so you don't accidentally lose important materials.
• Rich-text notes
• A new style manager allowing you to add and delete CSL and legacy format styles.
• Support for .ens style files

Upgrading from Zotero 1.0 is easy: just click the Download button on the Zotero home page. After installation, Zotero will prompt you to convert your 1.0 database to the new format used by 2.0. To avoid any disappointments, please make sure to:

• Back up your data before upgrading your database. While Zotero automatically backs up its database before every upgrade, the upgrade process from Zotero 1.0 to Zotero 2.0 requires irreversible changes to both the Zotero database and the attachments directory. Without a backup of your entire Zotero data directory, you will be unable to go back to Zotero 1.0 without losing data.
• Pick the right time to upgrade. If you have a large database and/or a slow computer, the upgrade process may take a number of hours to run. You may also run into unforeseen issues after upgrading. Consider delaying your upgrade if you have an important deadline coming up soon and you don't have time for troubleshooting.

Don't want to upgrade now? If you've installed 2.0 but haven't yet upgraded your database, you can reinstall Zotero 1.0, but note that Zotero 1.0 is no longer supported and no longer receives translator or style updates.

Cancelled the upgrade wizard? Restart Firefox to continue the upgrade.

Zotero 2.0 requires new versions of the word processor plugins, and documents used with 2.0 can no longer be used with Zotero 1.0.

Documents used with the Zotero 1.0 plugins must be refreshed and resaved with the Zotero 2.0 plugins on the same computer on which they were previously used with 1.0, and that Zotero database must then be used as the source for Zotero 2.0 syncing. If you first refresh them with a Zotero 2.0 plugin on a different, synced computer, you may end up with mismatched citations.

Zotero 2.0 does not work with Word X for Mac (from 2001).

To start syncing your library with the Zotero server, create a Zotero account and enter your username and password in the Sync tab of the Zotero preferences (you already have a Zotero account if you previously registered on the Zotero Forums).

As you now make changes to your library (add, edit, and delete items), those changes will be automatically synchronized with the Zotero server. The first time your Zotero library syncs, Firefox may appear to hang, especially if you have a large library. Please be patient.

Once you have set up one computer to work with Zotero 2.0, you can access your library from any computer with Zotero 2.0 installed.

On another computer, install Zotero 2.0 and add your Zotero username and password information as indicated above.

Click the Zotero sync icon to initiate automatic synchronization of this computer with your Zotero account. As you make changes to your library (add, edit, and delete items), those changes will be automatically synchronized with the Zotero server.

If you have existing Zotero data on multiple computers, the standard sync process will merge that data together, creating duplicates of any items that exist on more than one computer. This applies even if you transferred a Zotero 1.0 library by copying the data directory to another computer.

To avoid duplicates, you'll need to use one of the sync reset options to force Zotero to overwrite data on one side.

All bugs should be reported in the forums.

Changes between minor versions can be viewed on the changelog.