Browser Extension
The official browser extension automatically identifies and extracts bibliographic information on websites and sends them to JabRef with one click.
JabRef offers an official browser extension. It automatically identifies and extracts bibliographic information on websites and sends them to JabRef with one click.
When you find an interesting article through Google Scholar, the arXiv or journal websites, this browser extension allows you to add those references to JabRef. Even links to accompanying PDFs are sent to JabRef, where those documents can easily be downloaded, renamed, and placed in the correct folder. A wide range of publisher sites, library catalogs, and databases are supported.
Normally, you simply install the extension from the browser store and are ready to go.
While Chrome extensions can work in Edge (and will install), JabRef is configured to work with the Edge extension in the Edge Browser, and the Chrome extension in the Chrome Browser. It will not work if they are mixed.
After the installation, you should be able to import bibliographic references into JabRef directly from your browser. Just visit a publisher site or some other website containing bibliographic information (for example, the arXiv) and click the JabRef symbol in the Firefox search bar (or press Alt+Shift+J). Once the JabRef browser extension has extracted the references and downloaded the associated PDF's, the import window of JabRef opens.
You might want to configure JabRef so that new entries are always imported in an already opened instance of JabRef. For this, activate "Listen to remote operation on port" under the "Network" tab of the JabRef Preferences.
1) Go to zotero.org. 2) Deactivate AdBlock plus extension for the whole domain (zotero.org) by clicking on the Adblock plus extension button and sliding the corresponding slider to allow adds on the whole domain. 3) Close and reopen the browser in order to reload all the extension and their settings. 4) Verify the functioning of the Jabref extension by visiting a page you know is working to extract its bibliographic data (for example, the arXiv) by pressing the extension button or Alt + Shift + J.
In case you encounter problems in this procedure refer to issue #241 on GitHub for further help.
Error message
bad interpreter: /usr/bin/python3: no such file or directory means that python3 is not installed at the expected location. Run which python3 to see if python3 is installed elsewhere. Then copy that path at the first line of jabrefHost.py maintaining #! prefix.Most JabRef installations include the necessary files, so test the extension before proceeding with the following instructions. However, sometimes, a manual installation is necessary (e.g. if you use the portable version of JabRef). In this case, please take the following steps:
- 1.
- 3.Download the following files and copy them to the same directory as
JabRef.exe - 4.Make sure that the correct file name of the
JabRef.batfile is specified inJabRefHost.ps1under$jabRefExe. - 5.Run the following command from the console (with the correct path to the
jabref.jsonfile):a. For Firefox support:REG ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\NativeMessagingHosts\org.jabref.jabref" /ve /d "C:\path\to\jabref-firefox.json" /fb. For Chrome/Opera/Brave/Vivaldi and other chromium-based browser support:REG ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\Chrome\NativeMessagingHosts\org.jabref.jabref" /ve /d "C:\path\to\jabref-chrome.json" /fc. For Edge support:REG ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Edge\NativeMessagingHosts\org.jabref.jabref" /ve /t REG_SZ /d "C:\path\to\jabref.json" /fYou may need to change the rootHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINEtoHKEY_CURRENT_USERif you don't have admin rights.
- 1.
- 2.
/usr/lib/mozilla/native-messaging-hosts/org.jabref.jabref.jsonto install with admin rights for all users~/.mozilla/native-messaging-hosts/org.jabref.jabref.jsonto install without admin rights for the current user
/etc/opt/chrome/native-messaging-hosts/org.jabref.jabref.jsonto install with admin rights for all users~/.config/google-chrome/NativeMessagingHosts/org.jabref.jabref.jsonto install without admin rights for the current user
/etc/chromium/native-messaging-hosts/org.jabref.jabref.jsonto install with admin rights for all users~/.config/chromium/NativeMessagingHosts/org.jabref.jabref.jsonto install without admin rights for the current user
/etc/opt/edge/native-messaging-hosts/org.jabref.jabref.jsonto install with admin rights for all users~/.config/microsoft-edge/NativeMessagingHosts/org.jabref.jabref.jsonto install without admin rights for the current user
- 3.Open the file
org.jabref.jabref.jsonwith a text editor, and alter it so that itspathvariable matches the location of yourjabrefHost.pyfile.
- 1.
- 3.Connect the appropriate plug for the selected browser:
- Firefox:
snap connect jabref:hostfs-mozilla-native-messaging-jabref - Chrome:
snap connect jabref:etc-opt-chrome-native-messaging-jabref - Chromium:
snap connect jabref:etc-chromium-native-messaging-jabref - Edge:
snap connect jabref:etc-opt-edge-native-messaging-jabref
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- 3.Enable the correct permissions (Note that this will partially disable confinement):
- via terminal command:
flatpak override --user --talk-name=org.freedesktop.Flatpak org.mozilla.firefox - via Flatseal app: add
org.freedesktop.Flatpakto theSession Bus Talksection fororg.mozilla.firefox
- 1.
- 2.
/Library/Application Support/Mozilla/NativeMessagingHosts/org.jabref.jabref.jsonto install with admin rights for all users~/Library/Application Support/Mozilla/NativeMessagingHosts/org.jabref.jabref.jsonto install without admin rights for the current user
- Chrome and Brave: If it's not auto-installed for you, download org.jabref.jabref.json and put it into
/Library/Google/Chrome/NativeMessagingHosts/org.jabref.jabref.jsonto install with admin rights for all users~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/NativeMessagingHosts/org.jabref.jabref.jsonto install without admin rights for the current user
/Library/Application Support/Chromium/NativeMessagingHosts/org.jabref.jabref.jsonto install with admin rights for all users~/Library/Application Support/Chromium/NativeMessagingHosts/org.jabref.jabref.jsonto install without admin rights for the current user
/Library/Microsoft/Edge/NativeMessagingHosts/org.jabref.jabref.jsonto install with admin rights for all users~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft Edge {Channel_Name}/NativeMessagingHosts/org.jabref.jabref.jsonto install without admin rights for the current user
The {Channel_Name} in Microsoft Edge {Channel_Name} must be one of the following values: Canary, Dev, Beta.When using the Stable release/channel, {Channel_Name} is not required.
- 3.Check that the Python script works. In Terminal run
/Applications/JabRef.app/Contents/Resources/jabrefHost.py. If there are no errors the script is working properly. Stop the script by pressingCtrl + D.
org.jabref.jabref.json directs the browser extension to a python script in the JabRef app, which is set to the most common install path by default (
/Applications/JabRef.app/Contents/Resources/jabrefHost.py). If you have installed JabRef somewhere else, most likely to your local applications folder (~/Applications/JabRef), then you will need to update this path to the correct location. For example, in local installs this would be /Users/USER/Applications/JabRef.app/Contents/Resources/jabrefHost.py, where USER is your username.Last modified 1mo ago