Quick Copy a DOI link in Zotero

What is this for?

The doi-link-quickcopy.js file in this repository will enable a new QuickCopy functionality in Zotero, analogous to "Copy Selected Items to Clipboard" and "Copy Selected Items Citations to Clipboard" (that are both present by default). The functionality consists of copying to the OS clipboard the DOI links of all selected items in the main panel.

I copy DOI links from Zotero many times a day to paste them in emails and notes. For such short writings performed in applications that automatically make links clickable, the citation and bibliography generation facilities of Zotero are overkill, and I find myself constantly right-clicking to copy DOI links. A keyboard shortcut is a lot faster to use, and implementing this functionality with an export translator also automatically makes it possible to copy not only one DOI link of one selected item, but also a list of DOI links of several selected items.

Installation

Unfortunately, installation is not user-friendly at all.

1. If Zotero is running, quit it.
2. Download doi-link-quickcopy.js from this repository and place it into $ZOTERO_DATA_DIR/translators.
3. Start Zotero.
4. If you don't already have the Zutilo extension, install it.
5. Open Zotero preferences, go to the Advanced tab and the General sub-tab, click on Config Editor to open the advanced configuration options, acknowledge the warning.
6. If you don't already have custom quick copy functions, skip this step. If you already use the quick copy functionality and all your quick copy functions are in use, start by entering in the advanced configuration editor's search bar extensions.zutilo.copyItems_alt_total and increase the number of quick copy functions to accomodate the additional one you will add next.
7. In the advanced configuration editor's search bar, enter extensions.zutilo.quickcopy_altN (in which N is the number of a quick copy function not currently in use; if you skipped the previous step, you can use 1 or 2, as they should both be available if you don't already have any quick copy function). Double-click on the blank Value field, enter the following value and validate: export=d5bb4cc3-8334-4bbc-a5f0-fe66317c88e8.
8. Open Zutilo preferences, go to the Shortcuts tab, find the shortcut called Quick Copy items (alt N) (in which N is the same number as you chose in the previous step) and choose a keyboard shortcut for it. I like using Cmd + Shift + D because it is similar to Cmd + Shift + C (Copy Selected Items to Clipboard) and has a "D" as in "DOI".