Upgrade StorageIdentifying a linked entry within a library
Is there a flag on a linked entry which tells me that entry is dependent on another entry?
Within my library I frequently move an entry from one folder to another. Usually (I hold down the shift key) the entry is moved and not simply linked.
Occasionally the new folder gets a linked entry, which means it is a phantom entry, dependent on the original entry, and if I delete the original entry the phantom entry will disappear.
Today I discovered I have a big mess in a particular folder, including a bunch of entries that were mis-categorised, and I wanted to disappear them by moving them into the correct folder. So I tried to move them into the correct folder, but Zotero would not allow me to, because the entry is already there - as a linked file, I think!. So I may or may not have a phantom entry where I want the true entry, and the original (true) entry in a place I do not want it.
My strategy would be to delete the linked entries, and try to move the original entry into the destination folder where I want it to be. But of all the entries in the destination folder, how do I know which of them is linked and which of them is original? If I cannot distinguish between actual non-dependent entries from dependent entries, I have to test each entry in the source folder individually by trying (and failing) to move it. If the entry in the destination folder has a flag (is original or linked), then I could save a lot of work by deleting them, before trying to move the originals in. If I find an entry that is not linked, I can go back to the source folder and delete the doppelganger of that entry.
Did that make sense? I tried to make it as simple as possible. It seems obvious to me there should be a way to distinguish between the original file and the secondary linked file, because you can't delete the original without deleting the linked. (I saw mention of a faded PDF icon. These entries are for books I entered by ISBN, and none has any PDF icon.)
Within my library I frequently move an entry from one folder to another. Usually (I hold down the shift key) the entry is moved and not simply linked.
Occasionally the new folder gets a linked entry, which means it is a phantom entry, dependent on the original entry, and if I delete the original entry the phantom entry will disappear.
Today I discovered I have a big mess in a particular folder, including a bunch of entries that were mis-categorised, and I wanted to disappear them by moving them into the correct folder. So I tried to move them into the correct folder, but Zotero would not allow me to, because the entry is already there - as a linked file, I think!. So I may or may not have a phantom entry where I want the true entry, and the original (true) entry in a place I do not want it.
My strategy would be to delete the linked entries, and try to move the original entry into the destination folder where I want it to be. But of all the entries in the destination folder, how do I know which of them is linked and which of them is original? If I cannot distinguish between actual non-dependent entries from dependent entries, I have to test each entry in the source folder individually by trying (and failing) to move it. If the entry in the destination folder has a flag (is original or linked), then I could save a lot of work by deleting them, before trying to move the originals in. If I find an entry that is not linked, I can go back to the source folder and delete the doppelganger of that entry.
Did that make sense? I tried to make it as simple as possible. It seems obvious to me there should be a way to distinguish between the original file and the secondary linked file, because you can't delete the original without deleting the linked. (I saw mention of a faded PDF icon. These entries are for books I entered by ISBN, and none has any PDF icon.)
Zotero does have the Ctrl key option to highlight which collections an item is in.
https://www.zotero.org/support/collections_and_tags#identifying_collections_an_item_is_in
That does not always work that well, for example when you have a lot of collections. An alternative (albeit tedious) is running this code under Tools\Developer\Run Javascript, which will list the collections to which an item belongs.
https://gist.github.com/KalebNyquist/2ca3ac322751578b6d791cd90b4df15b
For any plugin developers out there, it would be very useful to have a plugin that creates a right Collection tab, under which the collections list from the above code would be displayed for the currently-selected item.