MOVE items from Collection A to Collection B

t4ure4n

Hello I have seen many posts about this but without an answer so I am stating my question hoping that some will help me out.

I have installed the latest version of Zotero v3.0.7. I already have my Zotero Library from before. Now, I want to fix/rearrange items.

I don't see any option to MOVE item(s) to a new Collection/Folder.

If I drag an item it creates a copy in both Collections/Folders.

It is frustrating because, I have ended up up with like 5 copies of some items.

Please help me by advising me on how to move items between categories..

Thanks

Khurram

mronkko

They are not copies of the item. Collections are like playlists, one item can belong to many without being a copy.

I do not think that removing and adding with a single action has been implemented.

Rintze

See also http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/310

bueschel

This issue is about 4 years old. Are there technical difficulties preventing the implementation of what seems to me like a complete no-brainer? Or is it considered unimportant?

mronkko2

I would say that it is considered unimportant.

adamsmith

I don't think it's considered high priority, no, but I also do remember Dan saying that it's not trivial to implement, I forgot the details, they may well be usability considerations (i.e. how to implement this in a way that's not confusing for users), rather than technical.

bueschel

:( That's a pity. Then please add me to the list of users who'd like to see this feature in the future.

Heckscher

If I understand you right, the fix is quite simple. You select the items you want to move; drag them to a new folder; and then hit delete. This deletes them from the old folder, but not from the new one (or from the database as w whole.) I do this all the time.

adamsmith

Yes, that's why it's lower priority - it'd be convenient to have, but it's non-essential. I'd suspect devs would be happy to accept a patch for this (i.e. allow move via drag using a key modifier), though anyone working on this would have to dig up the old discussion and look for the concerns raised - IIRC the main issue is to use a modifier key that makes sense for this type of operation on each OS.

bueschel

@Heckscher That would be possible but the problem is that copy feedback is non-existent and it's hard to see where you are dropping things. Whenever I hit delete after a copy operation, I fear that the copy didn't work. A UI should *never* induce fear in the user. And yes, I know that delete doesn't delete from the library, only from the collection.

@adamsmith There is no universal modifier key for every OS. Why can't we use different ones for each system? On Windows, "shift" would be the standard. I don't have a Mac, but I guess "option"?

adamsmith

oh, it can be a different one on each OS. That's the case for several keyboard functions in Zotero.
Why would shift be standard on Windows? What's the parallel situation you're thinking of?

As for "fear" - if you're concerned, you can check with one keystroke:
http://www.zotero.org/support/collections_and_tags#identifying_which_collections_an_item_is_in
But see above - I'm not denying this would be nice, but someone has to do it and someone has to do it in a way that doesn't generate confusion.

bueschel

The parallel situation I'm thinking of is moving files in Windows Explorer, where shift switches from copy to move when dragging files to the folder tree.

As for "someone has to do it", can you point me to some general hints for developing with javascript/xul/whatever else I need? Is there some good IDE for that? For example I have problems understanding the structures and where they are defined. Which may or may not be because I have zero knowledge about javascript. :D
(I'm not promising anything of course, but I would at least try to have a look at it.)

adamsmith

Generally
http://www.zotero.org/support/dev/client_coding
I don't have anything specific - if you're going to get into that zotero-dev is a better place to ask more technical questions.

dhbryant

The reason a "move" feature is needed is that when you have hundreds of items in folders and are working quickly (or wish you were) to move them from folder A to folders B through F, after copying said item you have to find your way back to the original in folder A to then delete it.

A perfect example: i'm sorting over 800 citations, selecting studies for inclusion in a meta-analysis. I have to keep track of why studies were excluded (and use folders/collections to do so). But when "move" is a 3-step operation requiring human memory, this human falters when going too fast or working too long. And it's a hassle. Just my two cents.

Overall, i LOVE zotero for many reasons. Thank you developers!

ftr

I support the demand to develop some MOVE ENTRY capacity that integrates copy & delete functions for an entry (or for an item). You can never be sure that a copy of a bibliography entry between collections worked. So if you have to move hundreds of entries because you reorganise a bibliography it either takes enormous time or you will surely have forgotten or lost items.
Having a MOVE ENTRY capacity would seriously increase the user friendliness of Zotero.

pjgoodall

The move operation is quite fundamental to using a folder-based system. It is unrealistic to suppose that the first folder an item is added to is the its final destination. Categorizations will always change if the collection is complex enough and in continuous use.

As others have pointed out the copy/delete pseudo-equivalent to move is hard to work with and not confirmed well.

Drag-drop key-modifiers are conventional within operating systems, been there for several decades that I can remember.

The lack of a move operation is something that annoys me every time I use Zotero - otherwise much loved....

adamsmith

I really wish people wouldn't refer to collections as folder - they're really not and you're not doing yourself a favor conflating the two.

As for everything else see above: there is no dispute about this as a desirable feature, key modifiers are the way to go (though it's important to get them right - e.g. the example for Shift in Windows is exactly the thing to looks for) and if anyone wants to work on a patch that'd be welcome.