Copy with page, BibTeX, citation keys

Copy a quote ready to cite, with its page number, and copy a paper's BibTeX entry or citation key straight into Pandoc, Quarto, Obsidian, LaTeX and similar tools.

Applies to Mendeley and Zotero editions Windows · Mac · iPad Free

Copy with page

Select text in a paper, in the PDF view or in Reading Mode.
Choose Copy with page:
- Mac · iPadIn the menu over the selection or the menu of a highlight you tap; on Mac, also by right-clicking. The shortcut is ⌘⇧C.
- WindowsIn the bar over the selection, or by right-clicking. In Reading Mode the shortcut is Ctrl+Shift+C, and a block's menu has Copy block with page.
Paste it where you write. You get the quote in quotation marks followed by the page, like “…” (p. 5), or (pp. 5–6) when it runs across pages.

The page is the number printed on the paper's pages when the PDF has one, otherwise the PDF page number.

Copy BibTeX or the citation key

Mac · iPadIn the library, long-press a paper (or right-click it on Mac) and choose Copy BibTeX or Copy citation key. In the reader, both are in the … menu.
WindowsAbove the paper, open Export and hand off to writing and choose Copy BibTeX or Copy citation key.

"BibTeX entry copied." confirms it.

The BibTeX entry takes the paper's details from Mendeley or Zotero. If they cannot be reached, the entry is copied without the details only they have (volume, pages, publisher); these are added once the connection is back.
A PDF that is not in your Mendeley or Zotero library gives an entry with only its title.

Citation key format

Choose how Copy citation key writes the key, to match where you paste it:

Setting	You get	For
Pandoc, Quarto, Obsidian	`[@key]`	Pandoc, Quarto, Obsidian
Pandoc within a sentence, Zettlr, Logseq	`@key`	Pandoc's in-sentence form, Zettlr, Logseq
LaTeX	`\cite{key}`	LaTeX
The key alone	`key`	anything else

Mac · iPadIn the reader's Settings › Export › Citation key.
WindowsIn Settings › Reader › Citation key.

The same format is used for the sources that Send to theme writes, and under the title of each note in the notes folder.

Where the key comes from

Mendeley editionThe citation key Mendeley holds for the paper. Without one, Rectoly makes one from the first author's family name, the year and the first word of the title, such as devlin2019bert.
Zotero editionThe citation key Zotero holds for the paper, including a "Citation Key:" line in the Extra field (as Better BibTeX writes it). Without one, Rectoly makes one the same way, such as devlin2019bert.