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Comment by TripleTree | Hacker News Reader

I could dig into their documentation but I'd rather ask an enthusiast. Is it still possible to get your own data out in a nice and easy format? I was once all-in on a note-taking app that slowly got worse and worse and it was a hassle to escape, so now I always consider it before starting.

If Zotero ever enshittifies or just disappears would I still be able to access my data and transfer it to something else?

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User data exports are available as csv, xml, and latex, with original documents available in original input and also pdf.

It's also all open source and local-first. You can also add your own self-hosted WebDAV server for syncing across clients. Also, it's developed by a nonprofit organization.

Yes, but in addition to that, it is owned by a non-profit who hasn’t made a single controversial update in 20 years, so it’s got a pretty decent track record.

I have Zotero set up with some plugins that create a .bib file I create notes for in Emacs. I enjoy this setup because it allows me the convenience of saving files quickly using Zotero, but saves all the data it extracts to an open format with an auto export. If Zotero were to disappear tomorrow, I’d still have all my notes in org files and my citations in their bib file.

Don't suppose you have blogged about this? Or have recos for resources on combining Zotero with emacs? this sounds very intriguing!

> I was once all-in on a note-taking app that slowly got worse and worse and it was a hassle to escape

Taking a guess here, but Evernote? :)

Not the person you're replying it to. I had that happen with Microsoft's OneNote. I really liked it and I had no problems parsing the XML files it made so I could pipe data into other systems but then it went 100% cloud storage.

It was a classic example of "Microsoft made something surprisingly good, made people think it was crap because they stuffed five OneNote icons on your taskbar and three up your nose, and then they wrecked it", must have come from the same mind that thought buying Activision was a good idea.

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