Assing an entry to multiple Zotero folders

IsaakM

Not sure about the proper terminology, since I use the German language version of Zotero. Here is the scenario. Within the "my library" (the main folder on the highest level of the Zotero file tree I have multiple folders. One such folder titled "university" contains subfolders for all my courses / study subjects with additional subfolders for the different coursework. For example I have a folder:

my library->university->data mining->moocs

Where I store Moocs I found online that relate to this subject.

I also have another folder that goes:

my library -> moocs

With subfolders for different subjects.

When I store a website to the first folder, I also want to store it within the second folder. Even better, I would like to sync (when I delete from the first folder, it should also delete the entry in the second one). Is there a best practice to do this. I know this from audio players like Itunes, where you can story one song under various categories / folders and when you delete the song it of course gone from all folders.

adamsmith

That's exactly how Zotero Collections work: https://www.zotero.org/support/collections_and_tags#the_zotero_collections_model

If you place an item in collection A and then drag it to collection B, the same item will be in both collections. Since it's not a copy but actually the same item, any changes you make affect the item in all locations and when you move it to the trash it is removed from all collections (note, though, that pressing delete while viewing an item in a collection removes it from that collection. It does _not_ move it to the trash).

grolimur

If you want to automatically update folder A when you add an item in folder B, you can also use the Saved Search. You create an advanced search that looks like this:

"collection" is "moocs"

And when you save it, the content of the Saved Search folder will be exactly the same as the one where you save the items.