Feature Request

jlanders

Would it be possible to have Zotero warn you when you delete an item in 1 subfolder if the item is in another subfolder. I am currently sharing a library with multiple users (each of us have a different subfolder) and if someone deletes an article in their own folder it may delete it other people's folder.

Thanks

dstillman

http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/collections_containing_an_item

jlanders

Hi Dan,

I have used this function but I still think a warning would help. Alternatively, if an item is to be deleted, can the user be asked if the item should be deleted from all folders or just the current folder?

Thanks

dstillman

Make sure you understand how collections work. There's not really such a thing as "deleting" an item from a collection, as collections just contain links to items in the Library.

If you hit Delete/Backspace on an item in a collection, the item will be removed from the collection and remain in the Library and other collections.

If you hit Ctrl/Cmd + Delete/Backspace on an item in a collection or use the context menu option, Zotero will prompt you if you want to delete the item and then delete it from the entire database.

There's currently no (easy) way to search for items in the Library that aren't in any collections, but there will be eventually (and there's a workaround), which would allow you to just remove items and every so often delete all the items in the "unfiled items" saved search.

We can't really adjust how Zotero works for every non-standard use case, so you'll likely need to work with the current behavior.

jlanders

Thanks for the info.

Having the ability to delete unfiled items would be great. I will look forward to this function.

jlanders

Hi Dan,

I have created the workaround search as you suggested. Is there a way to either delete items directly from the Advance Search Window or export the results to a new subfolder where I could then delete them in bulk. Otherwise, I will need to delete each record individually.

Thanks

dstillman

Save the search, Select All, right-click, Delete Selected Items from Library.

jlanders

Perfect!

Thanks