Feeds allow for you to find new literature from a specific journal, research group, publisher, etc.. They use RSS feeds to update and allow for you to add specific papers to your library from a feed source.
To add a new feed to your Zotero library, find the RSS feed link for the source that you want to monitor. Most journals have an RSS feed button on their websites. Here is an example from Nature:
This will usually take to a page with a bunch of code on it. Copy the URL for that page.
Once you have located the RSS feed link, click on "File" in your Zotero desktop app, select "New Library", and then click "New Feed".
Paste the URL in the designated box. You have the option to modify the title and advanced settings of the feed, including how frequently the feed updated. Then click "OK".
The feed will then appear as one of the options in the left panel along with your Library collections.
When you find a paper that you want to add to your library, select it and click the "Add to 'My Library'" option. If you click on the down-facing arrow next to the "Add to 'My Library'" button, you can select specific collections for the publication.
You can create a customized feed for a PubMed search for your Zotero Library. To do this, go to PubMed and conduct the search for which you would like to create a feed. On the results page, underneath the search bar will be an option to "Create RSS".
A banner will appear asking you to specific the title and number of items to display. Once you have specified these things, click "Create RSS". The link will then appear for you to copy. Follow the steps from the "Creating a Feed" tab of this page using the RSS URL created from PubMed.
Collections and subcollections are essentially digital folders that allow for you to organize your sources in your Zotero library. Collections are listed in alphabetical order underneath your library heading. Thus, all items will appear in the "My Library" heading. Placing a source into multiple collections or subcollections in your library. Zotero also has several default collections including: "My Publications", "Duplicate Items", "Unfiled Items", "Retracted Items", and "Trash". These appear at the bottom of your collections.
To add a collection or subcollection to your library, click the folder with the plus sign in the top left corner of your desktop browser. You can also right click on your Library as well.
A pop-up will appear where you can name the collection and specify what collection (if any) you wish to make it a subcollection of. Then click "Create Collection".
You also have the option of adding tags (and even color-coding them) to your sources using the tab icon for each individual citation entry. You can add a tag by clicking the plus icon. When you import literature from the web browser, Zotero will sometimes import tags from the publication website; you can also modify these automatically-imported tags in each citation.
You can filter your library based on the tags in the lower left corner of your desktop application by clicking on specific tag or using the filter options.
