How to disable automatic look up

tcarv

Is there a way to disable the automatic look-up when we start typing the author name and the tags?

I have a rather large library (c. 270k top-level items) and every time I start doing either of those the program slows to a crawl.

I upgraded directly from Zotero 5.something to Zotero 7. In Zotero 5, I went around this by typing the author names/tags in the "Abstract" pane, then cutting and pasting the words in the right place, as this did not trigger the automatic look-up. Since Zotero 7 changed the placement of the Abstract pane, now even this workaround is now too annoying for comfort in using the program.

Thanks.

tcarv

Hello?

bwiernik

Type a " quote mark in the search box before you start typing the search

tcarv

I'm not talking about the search. It's the input of new items that's the problem.

DWL-SDCA

This will work in the author field. Begin your entry with a quotation mark, type the author's last name and then be sure to delete the quotation mark before tabbing to the next field. Repeat for the first name. [Unless you already have a name that begins with a ["] no name suggestions will be offered.] {I have several author last names that properly begin with a single-quote mark.}

At least there is a drop-down list and you aren't forced by an auto-fill.

I too wish there was a way to turn off the name look-up-function. It seems to find author names that were in records that were long ago sent to the trash bin and emptied. If I do a creator-search, a record with the author name isn't returned. If I list my library and sort by author, I can't find a record with the name as a first author. This has long been an annoying puzzle of how/where the look-up finds a name that cannot be found with a search.

DWL-SDCA

On this name issue... I'd love to have a built-in or plug-in utility that would allow a search for authors with similar names, the listing of names would allow a selection of names from the list, then allow all selected names to be merged to eliminate names being in different variations. That would help greatly with styles that require name disambiguation.

dstillman

@DWL-SDCA: To be clear, that's not a suggestion we give for autocomplete — @bwiernik thought this was referring to the search bar, where " turns on a phrase search mode that triggers a search on Enter. You can enter any random character to prevent autocomplete from completing — there's nothing special about ".

There's not currently a way to turn off autocomplete.

It seems to find author names that were in records that were long ago sent to the trash bin and emptied.

No, it absolutely doesn't do this. It only autocompletes from items currently in the library.

dstillman

@tcarv: Can you provide a Debug ID for an autocomplete that's slow for you?

tcarv

@dstillman

D798681491

Thanks.

tcarv

Hello?