ZoteroPlus — Full-Featured Zotero Plugin for OnlyOffice

An attempt to make a better port of the LibreOffice Zotero plugin to OnlyOffice Desktop Editors, providing a sidebar-based citation management experience which should compare better than the official Zotero plugin integration provided by OnlyOffice.

Why ZoteroPlus?

The existing OnlyOffice Zotero plugin has critical limitations:

• No deletion tracking: If you delete a citation from your document, refreshing or inserting a bibliography puts it back
• Requires localhost permissions in Zotero: The local mode forces you to enable Zotero's local API connector manually
• No proper sync: No way to keep bibliography in sync with actual document content
• Missing familiar icons: No familiar Zotero LibreOffice-style toolbar buttons

ZoteroPlus attempts to fix all of these.

Features

All six LibreOffice Zotero toolbar actions are available:

Button	Action	Description
	Add/Edit Citation	Search and insert citations at cursor position
	Add Note	Insert citation as a footnote
	Add/Edit Bibliography	Insert or update bibliography
	Refresh	Sync all citations and bibliography with document
	Document Preferences	Configure citation style, language, and format
	Unlink Citations	Convert all citations to plain text

Additional Features

• Deletion detection: Properly tracks when citations are removed from the document
• Bibliography sync: Bibliography accurately reflects only the citations present in the document
• Dual connection modes: Local Zotero desktop app (no extra setup needed) or Online via API key
• 100+ citation styles: APA, Chicago, IEEE, Harvard, Vancouver, MLA, and more
• Custom style upload: Import your own .csl style files
• Multi-library search: Search across personal library and group libraries
• Footnotes/Endnotes: Full support for note-based citation styles
• Theme support: Adapts to OnlyOffice light and dark themes

Installation

Quick Install (Desktop)

cd ZoteroPlus
python3 install.py

Development Mode (symlink)

cd ZoteroPlus
python3 install.py --link

Custom Path

python3 install.py --path /path/to/onlyoffice/sdkjs-plugins

Uninstall

python3 install.py --uninstall

Manual Installation

1. Copy the entire ZoteroPlus/ folder to your OnlyOffice plugins directory:
   • Linux (native): ~/.local/share/onlyoffice/desktopeditors/sdkjs-plugins/
   • Linux (Flatpak): ~/.var/app/org.onlyoffice.desktopeditors/data/onlyoffice/desktopeditors/sdkjs-plugins/
   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/asc.onlyoffice.ONLYOFFICE/sdkjs-plugins/
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\ONLYOFFICE\DesktopEditors\sdkjs-plugins\
2. Rename the folder to {E5A2F1C3-7B8D-4F6A-9C0E-3D2B1A4F5E6D}
3. Restart OnlyOffice Desktop Editor

Usage

1. Open a Word document in OnlyOffice
2. The ZoteroPlus panel appears in the sidebar
3. Connect: Choose Local (Zotero desktop) or Online (API key) mode
4. Search: Type to search your Zotero library
5. Select: Check items to cite
6. Insert: Click "Insert Citation" to add at cursor
7. Bibliography: Click the bibliography button to generate
8. Refresh: Click refresh to sync citations with document

Connection Modes

Local Mode (Recommended)

• Requires Zotero desktop app to be running
• Connects via http://127.0.0.1:23119/api/
• No API key needed
• Works offline

Online Mode

• Uses Zotero's web API
• Requires API key from zotero.org/settings/keys
• Works without Zotero desktop app

Architecture

ZoteroPlus/
├── config.json              # OnlyOffice plugin manifest
├── index.html               # Main sidebar UI
├── install.py               # Installation script
├── scripts/
│   ├── app.js               # Main application logic
│   ├── zotero-connector.js  # Zotero API communication
│   ├── citation-manager.js  # Citation/bibliography management
│   ├── settings-manager.js  # CSL styles and preferences
│   └── vendor/
│       └── citeproc_commonjs.js  # CSL citation processor
├── styles/
│   └── main.css             # Plugin stylesheet
├── resources/
│   ├── icons/               # LibreOffice toolbar icons
│   ├── light/dark/          # OnlyOffice panel icons
│   └── csl/                 # CSL styles and locale files
└── translations/
    └── en-US.json           # English translations

Requirements

• OnlyOffice Desktop Editors 7.3.3+
• Zotero 6+ (for local mode) or Zotero web account (for online mode)

License

This plugin would not be possible without referencing the LibreOffice Zotero integration and the existing OnlyOffice Zotero plugin.

GPL v3