Quick Start

This walkthrough takes you from a fresh install to a cited post in a few minutes.

1. Pick your citation style

1. Go to References > Settings.
2. Open the Citation Style tab.
3. Choose a style (for example, APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE, or Vancouver). You can search all 10,000+ CSL styles.
4. Save.

This style is used for every citation and bibliography on your site unless a block overrides it.

2. Add a reference

1. Go to References and add a new reference.
2. To fill it automatically, use Auto-Cite: paste a DOI, PubMed ID, ISBN, or URL and let the plugin fetch the title, authors, journal, year, and other metadata.
3. Or fill the fields in by hand and choose a reference type (Journal Article, Book, Book Chapter, and so on).
4. Publish the reference.

See Adding references for the full detail.

3. Cite it in a post

In the block editor:

1. Edit a post or page.
2. Where the citation should appear, insert a Citation block and pick the reference from the sidebar.
3. At the end of the post, insert a Bibliography block to list every work you cited.

Prefer shortcodes or the Classic Editor? Use:

[abt_citation ids="123" locator="p. 42"]
[abt_bibliography title="References"]

4. (Optional) Add a front-end dashboard

Create a page containing the [abt_dashboard] shortcode to give logged-in users a place to add references, track reading status, and keep private notes. See User dashboard.

Where things live

Task	Location
Browse and add references	References
Settings	References > Settings
Import / Export	References > Import/Export
Review front-end submissions	References > Pending References (appears when submissions are waiting)