Your Zotero library already holds valuable research. By importing it into Consensus, your papers become part of My Library, where you can search, compare, and analyze the research you’ve already collected.

Instead of starting from scratch, you can work directly with your existing research to:

Chat across your entire Library
Find specific papers you remember quoting but can’t locate
Compare studies within Collections
Identify gaps and underexplored areas in your research

How to import your Zotero library

In Consensus, click the “Import Zotero” button.
When the pop-up appears:
- Click “Create key on Zotero”
- You’ll be redirected to Zotero to generate an API key for Consensus
- If prompted, log in to your Zotero account
On Zotero, you’ll see a “New Key” page:
- The key will be titled “Consensus”
- Required fields will already be pre-filled
- Click “Save Key”
Copy the generated key immediately, as it will only be shown once.
Return to Consensus:
- Paste the API key into the modal
- Click “Next”
Review your import:
- You’ll see a list of your Zotero library and all available collections/folders
- Click “Import Zotero library” to continue
Done!
- Your Zotero papers will now appear in My Library.

You can re-import your Zotero library at any time by clicking any “Import from Zotero” button in the product.

What do papers look like after being imported?

Collections imported from Zotero appear as Connected collections in Consensus.

These Collections:

Have a different icon and are blue
Preserve the same folder and sub-collection structure from Zotero
You cannot rename or move a Connected Collection unless you disconnect it
On each re-import, Consensus will bring in any new papers or collections added in Zotero since your last import

If you disconnect a Connected Collection:

You are free to rename or move it in Consensus
On future imports, that collection will not be updated with new papers from Zotero

You can still add or remove papers from any Collection in Consensus, including Connected Collections.

Keeping your Zotero library in sync

Consensus currently does not automatically sync with Zotero. To bring in new papers or collections added to Zotero, you should re-import your library periodically.

Each re-import will:

Add new papers and collections created in Zotero since your last import
Preserve existing Connected Collections and their structure

You can re-import at any time by clicking any “Import from Zotero” button in Consensus.

Limitations

This is a one-way import, so changes made in Consensus will not be reflected in Zotero
At this time, importing from Zotero brings in your entire library. Importing individual collections separately is not yet supported.
Consensus now supports importing a wider range of item types from Zotero, including: books, book sections, conference papers, documents, journal articles, manuscripts, preprints, reports, and theses.
- Currently, only journal articles are used in Consensus search and analysis.
- While the additional item types listed above can be successfully imported and stored in your Library, they are not yet included when running searches within your Library or Collections. Expanding support for these item types in search is something our team is actively working on.
Even if an item is a supported type, it may fail to import if Consensus cannot recognize it as a research paper during processing.

How to chat with your imported papers

You can chat with papers in a Collection in two ways.

Option 1: From a new Pro search

Start a new Pro search
Click the Sources button in the search bar
Select the Collection you want to chat with

Option 2: From within My Library

Open My Library
Use the search bar at the bottom of the screen to ask questions
- If you don’t select specific papers or a Collection, your question will be answered using your entire Library
- If you click into a specific Collection, your question will be answered using only the papers in that Collection

Chat with Collections is only available in Pro or Deep search mode. To unlock more usage, upgrade to the Pro tier.

FAQs

Is my import private?

Your library in Consensus is completely private, including all imported papers, collections, and attachments.

Do PDFs import?

Yes, if full-text PDFs are stored directly in your Zotero library and available for file syncing, those attachments will be imported into Consensus.
Please note: PDFs linked from external storage locations (rather than stored within Zotero itself) will not import.

Can I import my Zotero Group Libraries?