WRITING PHASE · ZOTERO PLUGIN

Zotero Perma Archiver

Zotero 7 & 8 v1.3.2 AGPL v3

Automatically archives any Zotero item with a URL to perma.cc when you save it. Already have a library full of unarchived items? Select them, right-click, and archive them all at once. The [perma.cc/...] link appears in your Word citations automatically. Bluebook 22nd ed. Rule 18.2.1(d) compliance — no technical knowledge required.

Developed by Cheng-chi "Kirin" Chang, Research Fellow, U.S.-Asia Law Institute, NYU School of Law; Affiliated Researcher, AI and Future of Work Program, Emory University School of Law (former Associate Director and Academic Researcher).

Download v1.3.2 (.xpi) Bluebook CSL Style GitHub →

Compatible with Zotero 7 and 8 · macOS · Windows · AGPL v3

Installation guide also available in Traditional Chinese → (plugin interface is English only)

New items

Save a webpage in Zotero → plugin archives to perma.cc in the background → Bluebook citations automatically include the [perma.cc/...] bracket. No extra steps.

Existing library

Select items → right-click → Archive to Perma.cc. The plugin works through your backlog and tags any failures so nothing slips through.

What is Zotero? What is perma.cc? Why does this exist?

Zotero is a free tool that saves webpages and articles into a research library with one click. Perma.cc is a free archiving service run by Harvard Law School that creates a permanent, unchanging copy of any webpage — so your citations never go dead. This plugin connects the two automatically.

The Bluebook 22nd edition (2025) made archiving internet citations mandatory. Studies show that over 70% of URLs cited in the Harvard Law Review no longer work. The traditional fix — manually visiting perma.cc for each URL, copying the archive link, and pasting it back into Zotero — takes five steps per item and is easy to skip. This plugin reduces that to zero steps for every item you save going forward, and one right-click for everything you've already saved.

Before You Start

You will need:

Important
New individual accounts start with only 10 free trial links. After the trial, you need either an institutional account or a paid plan to keep archiving. Most law school libraries provide perma.cc access free of charge to students, faculty, and journal staff — check with your law librarian before signing up individually. You can check your remaining links at any time at perma.cc/settings/tools.

Installation

1 Download and install the plugin file

Click here to download: perma-archiver_v1.3.2.xpi

Note
Your browser may warn you about downloading a .xpi file — this is normal. Allow the download and save it somewhere easy to find (e.g., your Desktop).
  1. Open Zotero on your computer.
  2. In the menu bar at the top of the screen, click Tools.
  3. In the dropdown menu, click Plugins.
  4. In the Plugins window, look for a small gear icon ⚙ in the upper-right corner. Click it.
  5. Click Install Add-on From File…
  6. Navigate to where you saved the .xpi file, select it, and click Open.
  7. When asked to restart Zotero, click Restart Now.
Note
After restarting, you should see Perma Archiver listed under Tools in the menu bar. If you don't, see Troubleshooting below.
2 Enter your perma.cc API key
  1. In Zotero, click Tools in the menu bar.
  2. Hover over Perma Archiver.
  3. Click Set API Key…
  4. Paste your API key and click OK.
  5. The plugin will immediately try to connect and show your folders — this confirms your key is working.
Important
The plugin will not archive anything until you complete this step. If a folder list does not appear after entering the key, the key was not accepted — double-check at perma.cc/settings/tools.

Optional — Choose a save folder: By default, archives go to your Personal Links folder. Access folder selection via Tools → Perma Archiver → Choose Save Folder…

Tip
Law school accounts often have shared organizational folders set up by the library. Ask your law librarian if your institution has a dedicated perma.cc folder for student journal work.
3 Install the Bluebook citation style optional — for Word users
Note
Steps 1 and 2 are all you need. The perma.cc link is saved directly into your Zotero item. Step 3 is only needed if you use Zotero's Word plugin and want the [perma.cc/...] bracket in your footnotes automatically.

Click here to download: bluebook-law-review-perma.csl

If your browser opens it as text instead of downloading, right-click the link and choose Save Link As…

  1. In Zotero, open Settings (Mac: Zotero → Settings; Windows: Edit → Preferences).
  2. Click the Cite tab.
  3. Under "Citation Styles," click + or Add from File…
  4. Select the .csl file and click Open.
  5. When inserting citations in Word or Google Docs, choose Bluebook Law Review (perma.cc) as your citation style.
Tip
Once installed, the style works automatically. Just use Zotero's "Add/Edit Citation" as you normally would — the perma.cc link will appear on its own.

What Happens After Setup

Automatic archiving — new saves

Once the plugin is installed and your API key is entered, every new save is handled automatically:

  1. You click the Zotero browser extension icon to save any item with a URL.
  2. The plugin calls perma.cc in the background (takes a few seconds).
  3. The perma.cc link is saved into your Zotero item (Info tab, right panel).
    • For most item types, it appears in the Place field.
    • For blog posts and forum posts: appended to the URL field in brackets: https://original-url [https://perma.cc/XXXX-XXXX].

If you use the Bluebook Law Review (perma.cc) citation style, Word citations will include the bracket automatically:

Rose, The Law as Justice Gorsuch Sees It, Atlantic (Aug. 5, 2024),
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/08/interview-justice-neil-gorsuch-over-ruled/679342/
(last visited Apr. 9, 2026) [https://perma.cc/PT32-56LR].

Batch archiving — your existing library

Already have items saved before you installed this plugin? Archive them retroactively:

  1. Select items (⌘A / Ctrl+A for all, or hold ⌘/Ctrl for specific items).
  2. Right-click the selection.
  3. Choose Archive to Perma.cc.
  4. Confirm — the plugin works through each item and shows a summary when done.

Items that fail are automatically tagged perma-failed — a colored label in your Zotero library. The tag is removed automatically if a retry succeeds. Works with any Zotero item that has a URL.

Important
Check your link quota before batch-archiving a large library. Individual trial accounts have only 10 links total. Institutional accounts typically have unlimited links. Check your quota at perma.cc/settings/tools before starting.

Known Limitations

Warning
A perma.cc link is not a guarantee the content was captured. If the original page was unavailable or behind a paywall at capture time, perma.cc may still issue a link — but the snapshot will be empty or show "Capture Failed." Always verify your perma.cc links before submitting by clicking each one and confirming the content appears.

If a capture failed: open the perma.cc link → "Show record details" → "Upload file" to replace the snapshot with a screenshot or PDF (up to 200 MB).
Warning
Paywalled sites (NYT, WSJ, SSRN login-required pages, etc.) may fail to archive — perma.cc cannot bypass paywalls. For these, archive manually at perma.cc and add (on file with the author) per Rule 18.2.1(d).
Note
Blog posts without a publication date will show the [perma.cc] bracket slightly out of order in the citation. Fix by manually entering the publication date in the Zotero item.

Troubleshooting

Plugin menu doesn't appear after installation

Make sure Zotero was fully restarted after installation. If Perma Archiver doesn't appear under Tools after restarting, try reinstalling: Tools → Plugins, find Perma Archiver, click Remove, restart Zotero, then install the .xpi again.

Archives not appearing in citations

Confirm you have installed the Bluebook Law Review (perma.cc) CSL style (Step 3) and selected it as your citation style in the Zotero Word plugin. Also verify that the perma.cc link appears in the item's Place or URL field — if missing, the item was saved before the plugin was installed and needs to be batch-archived.

The plugin is running but nothing is being archived

The most common cause is a missing or invalid API key. Go to Tools → Perma Archiver → Set API Key… and re-enter your key. If a folder list does not appear after entering the key, verify it at perma.cc/settings/tools. Also check that you have remaining links in your quota.

Tested On

  • macOS Sequoia 15.7.1 · Zotero 8.0.5
  • Windows 11 Enterprise (26200.8037) · Zotero 8.0.4
  • Windows 11 Enterprise (26200.8037) · Zotero 7.0.32

Other platforms and Zotero versions may work but have not been verified.

License

GNU Affero General Public License v3.0. Modifications to the plugin source files must remain open source under AGPL-3.0. The included CSL style (bluebook-law-review-perma.csl) is separately licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 as required by the CSL project.

Acknowledgments

CSL style based on Bluebook Law Review by Bruce D'Arcus, Nancy Sims, and contributors. Locator handling (at X, ¶ X, n.X) draws on Jonathan Choi's enhanced Bluebook style (2019). Further enhanced for Bluebook 22nd edition compliance and perma.cc archiving support.

← Back to lawreview.tools View Source on GitHub →
Kirin Chang

Built by Kirin Chang

Research Fellow, U.S.-Asia Law Institute · NYU School of Law
Affiliate Research Fellow, AI & the Future of Work · Emory Law
Member of the New York and Texas Bars

Appeared or is forthcoming in print and online journals and books with the NYU Law Review, UCLA Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Minnesota Law Review, University of Illinois Law Review, Wisconsin Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, among others.

kirinchang.com · SSRN · Google Scholar · GitHub · @chengchi_chang