Wait, what? Just a couple months ago, I did an early review of Zotero 8. I updated my computer today and see Zotero 9 is out?

I'd say "slow down" to the good folks at Digital Scholar but I think they know what they're doing.

According to their blog, Zotero 9 includes new features such as Read Aloud (a screen reader), Recently Read, the ability to add annotations directly to word processor documents, some group modifications, and a web-based authentication system that will eventually support two-factor authentication.

Changes in habits since Zotero 8

It's waaaaaaay too soon for me to write about these new features. I had been planning on writing about some changes I've noticed in my workflow since Zotero 8 came out.

As I guessed in my earlier Zotero 8 review, the changes to Notes has had the biggest effect. Zotero 8 introduced the ability to open individual notes in tabs, rather than separate windows. Very quickly, I began taking advantage of this, and as of this writing, I have 3 to 4 tabs open with various notes.

In addition, as I guessed previously, this change has affected how I use Zettlr and markdown-based notes. Before Zotero 8, I was putting "synthetic" notes (notes on multiple sources) into Zettlr. Zotero 8's shift to tab-based notes, its support of Markdown, and its superior tagging and searching system made it far easier to do that work within Zotero itself. About a month ago, I moved all my notes for one particular project (announcement coming soon!) from Zettlr to Zotero.

I am not sure if or how Zotero 9 would affect my workflow. In fact, if it doesn't, that's just fine by me. But I will post about any changes to this blog soon.

Unless, of course, the good folks at Digital Scholar drop Zotero 10 as quickly as they did 9. In fact, as their blog post suggests, this increased versioning pace might be their new approach.