The official browser extension automatically identifies and extracts bibliographic information on websites and sends them to JabRef with one click.
JabRef has 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.
Sometimes, a manual installation is necessary (e.g. if you use the portable version of JabRef). In this case, please take the following steps:
Make sure you have at least JabRef 5.0 installed.
On Windows 7, please upgrade Powershell.
Download the following files and copy them to the same directory as JabRef.exe
Make sure that the correct file name of the JabRef.bat file is specified in JabRefHost.ps1 under $jabRefExe.
Run the following command from the console (with the correct path to the jabref.json file):
For Firefox support:
For Chrome/Opera support
You may need to change the root HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE to HKEY_CURRENT_USER if you don't have admin rights.
Download and install the Debian package of JabRef 5.0
Download org.jabref.jabref.json and put it into
/usr/lib/mozilla/native-messaging-hosts/org.jabref.jabref.json to install with admin rights for all users
~/.mozilla/native-messaging-hosts/org.jabref.jabref.json to install without admin rights for the current user
Install the snap package of JabRef 5.0
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
Download and install the DMG package of JabRef 5.0.
Download org.jabref.jabref.json and put it into
/Library/Application Support/Mozilla/NativeMessagingHosts/org.jabref.jabref.json to install with admin rights for all users
~/Library/Application Support/Mozilla/NativeMessagingHosts/org.jabref.jabref.json to install without admin rights for the current user
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 "Remote operation" under the Advanced tab in the JabRef Preferences.