BibGenie DocsAdd Context
Add Zotero items, attachments, notes, selected text, and screenshots to a BibGenie conversation.
The quality of a BibGenie answer depends heavily on context. Add Context lets you bring Zotero research material into a conversation so BibGenie can respond based on your items, attachments, notes, and current reading state.
Ways to Add Context
@ mention
Type a space followed by @ in the input box to search for and insert Zotero items, attachments, notes, tags, collections, and more.
Add Context button
Click the Add Context button near the input box to open a selection dialog.
Right-click Add to Chat
Add context from Zotero items, collections, tags, reader tabs, or selected text.
Paste images or screenshots
Paste images into the input box or use Zotero-side screenshots for figures, formulas, and page regions.
Supported Context Types
| Type | Best for |
|---|---|
| Regular item | Bibliographic metadata, title, authors, year, and related attachments |
| PDF attachment | Full-paper reading, section summaries, methods, and results |
| Snapshot | Reading web pages saved in Zotero |
| Note | Using Zotero notes, excerpts, and research notes as context |
| Collection | Working with a set of papers |
| Tag | Working with papers under a specific tag |
| Selected text from PDF / EPUB / Snapshot | Precise explanation of a passage |
| Current PDF page context | Asking about the page you are reading |
| Image / screenshot | Analyzing figures, formulas, diagrams, and page regions |
Add Context With @
Type a space followed by @ in the input box to open the context search menu. You can then type a title, author, keyword, note name, tag name, or collection name to filter results.
Common examples:
@attention is all you need
@Smith 2023
@my research note
@systematic-review
@my project collectionAfter selecting a result, it appears as a context block in the input box. You can add multiple context blocks before asking a question.
Add Context From Zotero
You can add the current Zotero object directly to BibGenie:
- Right-click one or more library items and choose Add to Chat.
- Right-click a collection in the collection tree.
- Right-click a tag in the tag selector.
- Right-click a PDF, snapshot, or note tab.
- Select text in a PDF, EPUB, or snapshot and add it to chat.
These entry points can be enabled or disabled in Add to Chat Settings.
Examples
Add a PDF and ask:
Summarize this paper by research question, method, data, main findings, and limitations.Add several related papers and ask:
Compare these papers by assumptions, methods, and conclusions. Return a comparison table.Add a selected passage and ask:
Explain the logic of this passage and identify the key concepts.Add a figure screenshot and ask:
Explain the axes, curves, and main conclusion of this figure.Tips
- Add only the context that is relevant to the current question.
- For complex tasks, ask for a summary first, then follow up with details.
- For multi-paper comparisons, ask BibGenie to list each paper first before synthesizing.
- Screenshots are useful for figures and formulas, but add the source PDF or item if you need citation-level grounding.