Switching from Citavi to Zotero

Basically yes.

Attention: after 31.08.2026 access to your Citavi projects is no longer possible!
Please back them up locally in advance or transfer your projects to your new license.

Citavi can also be licensed privately. The costs depend on various factors (e.g. student status, annual billing). To register a license, you need an email address (not the UAS address). You can then continue working on locally saved projects.

Zotero is a free literature management program (open source program) that is platform-independent (Windows, macOS, Linux). It offers automatic updates and an active developer and user community.

You can find the download options for Zotero at zotero.org(Opens in a new tab) .

We have prepared a step-by-step guide for you to follow.

Instructions for switching from Citavi Web to Zotero PDF-File 497,24 kB 

We have prepared a step-by-step guide for this transition scenario that includes both cloud projects and local projects in Citavi.

Instructions for switching from Citavi Desktop to Zotero PDF-File 553,01 kB 

If you register with Zotero with an online account that can be synchronized on multiple devices, the free web storage for cloud use is limited to 300MB.

If this is not enough, you have two options:
- You can exclude PDF full-text files from synchronization in the program (Edit - Settings - Sync)
- You can link Sciebo(Opens in a new tab)  as cloud storage and thus access your full-text files regardless of location and device

The following are included

• Literature sources with all bibliographic data
• Quotations and comments as notes
• Assignments (but without reference to the title or project)
• PDF documents including the markings, although the attachments may have to be checked and re-linked manually in Zotero

The following are not transferred

• Categories or keywords that you added to knowledge items (e.g. quotations or comments) in Citavi
• Assignments to a source in knowledge items (e.g. in quotations or comments)
• images
• References to other sources created with Citavi

Operating system:

• MacOS 10.11 or newer
• Windows 7 or newer
• Linux

for the browser connector:

• Chrome/Chromium
• Firefox
• Safari
• Edge Browser

for the word processing plugin:

• Word 365
• Microsoft Word from 2008 (Mac) or 2010 (Windows)
• LibreOffice 5.2 or newer

iPad or iPhone iOS 14.7 or newer (use of a word processing plugin not possible)

Please note that when you create a Zotero account, you voluntarily consent to the processing of your data by Zotero. You also consent to the processing of other data by Zotero, some of which is personal data, including the content data you enter when using the cloud, but also usage and metadata, such as when you have worked with which other Zotero users.

You can find information on the terms of use and the processing of your data by Zotero on the following pages

https://www.zotero.org/support/privacy(Opens in a new tab) 
https://www.zotero.org/support/terms/terms_of_service(Opens in a new tab) 
https://www.zotero.org/support/security(Opens in a new tab) 

Personal data or security-relevant information should not be stored in the cloud. All users should be aware that there is a risk in sharing data. Before sharing data - personal or not - you should be aware that the recipients of the data can download it and distribute it themselves. The use of the cloud storage service for business data should be used with caution. Please note: Third-party works are subject to copyright and may only be used for your own scientific and non-commercial purposes. Reproduction, distribution and making available to the public for teaching and learning in accordance with UrhG 60§a must be complied with.

The cloud storage service is not suitable for data backup. You should therefore regularly create a local copy.

Due to inadequate data processing addenda in Citavi, Zotero and other providers, the team of data protection officers at Fachhochschule Dortmund recommends using all software solutions without cloud functions or doing without them as far as possible.