How to remove item from sub-collection?

dbrear

I have created a sub-collection for some items from my main collection.

Now I want to remove them, leaving them in the main collection.

How do I do this please? The context menu only offers me the option of deleting them. I can't drag them out back to the main collection.

Desktop, v7, Windows 11

ajb59

You first need to be in the sub-collection...

1/ Select the item(s) you want to remove from the sub-collection

2/ Right click on the item (context menu) and select 'Remove item(s) from collection'

3/ Select 'OK' to confirm or 'Cancel' to abandon

(Also, everything is always in the main collection ('My Library') - sub-collections are only views of sub-sets of the total data

dbrear

Thanks ajb59 - that's just what I'd expect - but it isn't there!
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u3113719/ig4h3cntu3ojz9kxms93.png

ajb59

Ok, it looks like you're selecting an attachment rather than the parent item?

dbrear

Er no - it's just an item in a sub-collection.

I can Move item to bin, but of course then it's deleted from the parent collection too, since as you say 'sub-collections are only views of sub-sets of the total data'

I don't want to see it in the sub-collection any more.

dstillman

The options in your screenshot only appear when you right-click on a child attachment.

dbrear

Yes?

dstillman

So that's what @ajb59 was saying — if you want to remove an item from the collection, you need to do it from the parent item.

dbrear

But I don't want to remove it from the collection, I want to remove it from the sub-collection.

dbrear

- only

dstillman

We've told you how to do that — from the parent item. Collection vs. subcollection makes no difference here.

dstillman

https://www.zotero.org/support/collections_and_tags#removing_items_from_a_collection

dbrear

You see, I can drag an item out of a collection into a sub-collection, but I can't just drag it out. Or delete it.

It's not a big deal, but it would seem logical.

dstillman

No, you're just confused here. All collection operations have to be done to parent items, not child items. Again, your screenshot shows you right-clicking on a child item. You can't drag a child item to a collection either.

ajb59

All I can add as a final observation is that the context menu you reproduce is clearly that of an attachment item; i.e. other items that would also be present in the case of a context menu of a parent item, e.g. 'Add attachment', are equally absent.

[Edit: just to note, incidentally, that this comment was prepared in response to that of @dbrear at 4.55PM yesterday (and would therefore have been comment #6) but appears out of sequence on account of other posts that I had not seen at that point.]

dbrear

I'm really not confused - I understand the situation perfectly. I understand that just because an item is in a sub-collection it is still in its collection.

But I make a sub-collection and add items to it for a function; when the function changes or the item changes I might want to change the sub-collection by editing it.

dbrear

Thank you guys for your time, particularly Dan who must be incredibly busy, but it's obvious that our discussion isn't going anywhere, and the answer to my original question is, that it isn't possible to remove an item from a sub-collection only.

dstillman

No, that is incorrect. A subcollection isn't some distinct thing. It's just a collection. You remove an item from any collection the same way — as shown in the documentation I linked to. If an item is in a collection and also in one of its subcollections, and you remove the item from the subcollection, the item still exists in the collection.

If you're going to post here, please trust that we know what we're talking about and are capable of telling you when you're confused. You posted a screenshot of the context menu for a child attachment. That has nothing — nothing whatsoever — to do with your question about removing items from a collection, and the fact that you posted it shows that you're misunderstanding something fundamental here.

You can explain further what you're not understanding, and provide screenshots with more context, but don't tell us what Zotero can and can't do. I promise you we know.

tim820

Open the (sub) collection you want to remove the item from. Right-click on the *parent* item (not its attachment). Select Remove Item from Collection. It's gone from that (sub) collection.

See also ...
https://www.zotero.org/support/collections_and_tags#show_items_from_subcollections

claude70

The confusion seems to be stemming from a misunderstanding of the terminology that Zotero uses.

Collection and subcollection refer to the folders in the left-hand panel.
Items are the books, articles etc in the main panel.

A top-level ITEM is called a "parent" item. A file that is attached to an item (such as a PDF or snapshot) is called a "child item" of the parent.

"Parent" does NOT refer to the collection that the sub-collection is in, but to the ITEM that's in the collection.

From the screenshot it seems that dbrear is right-clicking on a file that's attached to an item (that is, clicking on a "child" not the "parent" item).

Right-clicking on the ITEM (rather than the attachment) brings up a context menu with the option to "Remove item from collection".

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u405809/fidew8ru1qiqt8n9iz3u.png

dbrear

Thank you for this useful contribution claude70.

dbrear

Although claude70's suggestion doesn't quite meet the case, I am happy to report that I have created a test sub-collection and added a test item in it (an item with am attached file), and when I right-click on the item in the sub-collection I am offered the opportunity to Remove item from collection ..., as I would have expected, but which wasn't working originally. I just need to remember that a sub-collection is a collection.

So we can all get on with our normal lives. I'd like to thank all who spent so much time on this with me, particularly dstillman.

adamsmith

FWIW, if you want to move an item out of its parent (which typically you wouldn't want to do, but in some rare cases, e.g. when you attached it mistakenly or the completely wrong metadata was retrieved automatically, might make sense), you can just drag it to a higher level in the middle panel -- it's a bit finicky, but you will see a thing grey line when the item is placed as a parent item (otherwise the item it's being attached to gets highlighted). This will work for PDFs (like the one you have selected) as well as notes, but not for links and Snapshots.
I'm not aware of a keyboard option for this, but there might be one?