To activate Zotero's cloud storage, you need to set up a Zotero account. If you have not already set up an account, go to the Zotero website, and clicking Log In in the upper right corner of the page.

To learn more about setting up a Zotero account, see the Create a Zotero Account page.

1.  Zotero can keep track of your library’s data across multiple computers.  Zotero is able to sync your library across multiple computers because Zotero can store your data on their servers.  There are two kinds of data that Zotero can store.  The first is just-plain data, or the metadata associated with all of the citations you have – the titles, authors, journal titles, tags and notes you have for those citations.  The just-plain data is synced on Zotero’s servers and there is no limit to how much of this kind of data you can store on Zotero’s servers and therefore sync across multiple computers.

2.  The other type of data are files – the attachments your citations may have, such as PDFs or screenshots.  These files can quickly take up a lot of space, so Zotero only gives users 300 MB free cloud space for this type of data.  To give you an idea of how much 300 MB is, a general rule of thumb is that one PDF averages 1 MB.

3.  If you need to access more than 300 MB of space from multiple computers or intend to use larger Zotero Group libraries, one option is to pay for additional storage space via Zotero. Note - Oregon State University students and employees can set up unlimited free Zotero storage space.

To use Zotero's cloud storage, sync your Zotero library to your Zotero account. Select the sync icon in the upper right corner of your Zotero library then open Sync preferences.

4. Next enter your Zotero username and password to connect to your cloud storage space.

Now you can use Zotero on multiple computers, create Zotero Group libraries, and use Zotero's cloud storage to back up your data.