collection primary key

sagearbor

I would like to be able to impose a constraint of having an article associated with a primary collection. I would then be able to file hard copies tagged by this collection. Most researchers would like to classify papers by topic , but they seem to always end up fitting into a few possible topics. In zotero you can add them to other collections which is great, but if there were one collection which could be tagged uniquely for that paper you could quickly find it in a library of 1000 binders. I apologize if there is already this functionality and I havent come across it.

pjweiss

I too have a need to identify primary and secondary categories for items. I would be fine using collections, or tags, or saved searches, or other metadata in Zotero. Since all metadata applies to an item, rather an instance of an item in a collections, this doesn't seem possible at the moment. I am guessing that instance metadata or metadata _about_ a tag assignment (primary, secondary, etc.) would involve far too much work to be considered as a feature request? My semi-kludge so far has been to categorize via collections, then add a tag beginning with "1: " followed by the primary category. If anyone has figured out a better solution, please share!

bwiernik

I’m not sure exactly what you’re goal is. Can you give a specific example of a primary and secondary category here?

pjweiss

My goal is, for categories I have assigned to items, to have Zotero be able to easily differentiate between those categories I have designated as primary from those I have designated as secondary. Primariness here is an attribute of the item/category relationship, rather than of a category in the abstract, or just an item.

I heavily categorize my Zotero items. For some of my needs, I need to have items in a single category. I would like to be able to look at the items in a collection or saved search, and know which ones (if any) are in the collection/saved search as their primary category.

One example is for sharing. Some of my categorization is based on the item itself, which would generally be true for other researchers. But some is idiosyncratic to me, because of its relation to my work, or because of a note I have made. I need to be able to differentiate those.

Another example is that because my work is interdisciplinary, I categorize items by discipline and by topic, but for single-category purposes I need to know which items are in a category because of their topics or disciplines.

A third example is for some of my research methodology categories, I use the category for both items _about_ the methodology as well as items _using_ the methodology.

I have kludges for all 3 of these, and other situations, but it would be nice to have a single, simple way of handling all these, especially one that would be easy to see visually.

bwiernik

I would generally recommend using tags for all of those types of categorization. You can use colored tags to visually see a small set of tags assigned to items. It is also easier to see the full list of tags assigned to an item in the right pane than it is to see the collections an item belongs to.

pjweiss

I do use tags for some of these. The disadvantages include the lack of built-in hierarchies that you get with collections (and mine currently get up to 7 levels deep), only 6 colored tags (which I already have used up), and the quick visualization of colored tags in the center pane. @dstillman I am guessing that instance metadata or metadata _about_ a tag assignment (primary, secondary, etc.) would involve far too much work to be considered as a feature request?

dstillman

Metadata about a tag assignment definitely won't happen. There may be additional tag types in the future, such that some could be designated, say, workflow tags, which might not show up in some contexts (e.g., sharing a library publicly).

pjweiss

That sounds great!