Quick Start — Your First 5 Minutes with ZiNote

ZiNote is the fastest way to discover academic papers that actually matter to your research. Think of it as a personal research assistant that learns your taste: you swipe through papers, and it gets smarter every day.

This guide will get you from zero to your first saved paper in about five minutes.

1. Download and Install

Grab ZiNote from your app store:

iOS: Download on the App Store
Android: Get it on Google Play

The app is lightweight and installs in seconds. No account is required to browse, but you will need one to save papers and unlock personalized recommendations.

2. Sign Up

When you open ZiNote for the first time, tap Sign Up and enter your email address. You will receive a one-time verification code (OTP) — check your inbox, type in the code, and you are in.

No passwords to remember. No social login hoops. Just your email and a quick code.

3. Set Your Research Keywords

This is the most important step, and it takes about thirty seconds.

After signing up, ZiNote asks you to enter research keywords. These tell the system what kind of papers to find for you. Enter 2 or 3 keywords that describe your current research interests.

You do not need to choose sources. ZiNote automatically searches across all major academic databases — arXiv, PubMed, Semantic Scholar, and more — so you never have to worry about missing a paper because it was published somewhere you forgot to check.

Here are some examples to get you thinking:

| Field | Example Keywords | |-------|-----------------| | Machine Learning | transformer architectures, reinforcement learning, LLM alignment | | Biomedical | CRISPR gene editing, single-cell RNA sequencing, drug repurposing | | Physics | quantum error correction, topological insulators | | Social Science | misinformation spread, behavioral nudges, urban mobility | | Chemistry | metal-organic frameworks, catalyst design |

Tips for good keywords:

Be specific enough to filter out noise — "machine learning" is too broad, but "graph neural networks" works well.
Use the terminology that appears in paper titles and abstracts.
You can always add, edit, or remove keywords later from your settings.

The free tier gives you 3 keywords. If you need more, ZiNote Pro supports up to 20 keywords — useful when you are working across multiple projects or subfields.

4. Start Swiping

Now for the fun part. ZiNote presents papers one at a time, showing you the title, authors, abstract, and source. Your job is simple: decide if each paper is relevant to you.

Core gestures:

Swipe right — Save the paper to your library. You liked it.
Swipe left — Skip. Not relevant right now.
Double-tap — Instantly translate the abstract (Chinese/English).

Bottom action buttons:

Below each paper card, you will find five buttons for more control:

Skip — Same as swiping left. Move on.
Read — Open the full paper in ZiNote's built-in browser. No need to leave the app.
AI Summary — Get a concise, AI-generated summary of the paper. Great for quickly deciding if something is worth a deep read.
Translate — Toggle between Chinese and English translation of the abstract.
Like — Same as swiping right. Save it to your library.

There is no wrong move here. Skip liberally, save generously. The whole point is speed — you should be able to evaluate a paper in a few seconds and move on.

5. The More You Swipe, the Smarter It Gets

Here is where ZiNote becomes genuinely useful: every single swipe trains your personal recommendation system.

When you save a paper, ZiNote learns that you care about that topic, those methods, that research group. When you skip one, it learns that too. Over days and weeks, your feed becomes increasingly tailored to exactly what you need.

This means:

Your first day might feel like browsing broadly. That is normal.
By the end of your first week, you will notice fewer irrelevant papers.
After a few weeks, ZiNote surfaces papers you would have found only by luck or by spending hours manually searching.

The key is consistency. Spend a few minutes each day swiping, and the algorithm does the heavy lifting.

6. Optional: Connect Zotero

If you use Zotero to manage your reference library, ZiNote can sync your saved papers directly into it.

Here is how to set it up:

Visit zinote.app and download the Zotero sync plugin.
Install the plugin in Zotero.
In ZiNote's settings, connect your Zotero account.

Once connected, every paper you swipe right on automatically appears in your Zotero library — no manual export, no copy-pasting DOIs.

Prefer BibTeX? You can also export your saved papers as a BibTeX file sent directly to your email. Look for the export option in your library settings.

7. Done! Come Back Tomorrow

That is it. You are set up.

ZiNote fetches fresh papers every day based on your keywords, so there is always something new waiting for you. Think of it like a daily briefing for your research — open the app, spend a few minutes swiping, and stay on top of your field without the usual grind of manual searching.

Your daily routine with ZiNote:

Open the app.
Swipe through your fresh paper feed (5-10 minutes).
Read or summarize anything that catches your eye.
Close the app. Your saved papers are safe in your library (and in Zotero, if connected).

What's Next?

Add more keywords as your research evolves. Head to Settings to manage them.
Upgrade to Pro if you need more than 3 keywords or want unlimited daily swipes.
Tell a colleague. ZiNote works best when you use it regularly, and it is even better when your lab mates are using it too.

Have questions or feedback? Reach out at zinote.app — we are building this for researchers, and your input shapes what comes next.