Import a Collection (with subcollections) into a Group library

mark

It should be easy to import a Collection (together with its subcollections) into a Group library. I don't see any obvious way to do that currently.

It should also be easy to import references from an external file directly into a Group library. Many users will expect to be able to do that.

SiGi

Hi Mark,
you are right. I'm missing this feature too. While it's possible to export documents from group libraries to zotero-rdf Format (with notes, attachments...) and to re-import this entries into MyLibrary without problems. It is not possible to do it the other direction: exporting from MyLibrary in zotero-rdf Format an re-importing it in a selected group library. This feature should be added.

While drag & drop between group and mylibrary acutally do not work completely (notes, attachments are missing) this could also be a workaround to exchange documentes with notes and attachments between mylibrary and different group libraries.

rlmrdl

The instructions say that you just drag the collection into the Group once it appears in the Zotero interface.Which makes sense.

However, when I try to do that the forbidden icon doesn't change when the collection is hovered over the Group.

How do we fix it?

dstillman

Where does it say that? Dragging collections into group libraries isn't currently supported.

rlmrdl

Go Here
http://www.zotero.org/support/groups
Interact With Groups Through Firefox Add-On

If a group's library is enabled, it will appear in the Zotero client in the left column. Items can be dragged into it from My Library and viewed or edited by other group members, if their permissions allow it.

rlmrdl

Ahah, but only items, not collections

dawning

My assumption was collections because they are more likely to exist prior to the group being set up.

bartoli.alberto

I'm missing this feature too.

christianau

would love to see that feature as well

ridjou

I can't export a standalone not from my library to the group library. Do I miss something?
R

mrshirts

Just adding that it would be very nice to import into a group library -- I just highlighted my Group library, imported a 600 item .bib file, expecting it to show up in the group library and found it in my personal library -- and I already had most of those items, so now I have many duplicates (many of which were bad, and with which I had spent plenty of time curating). Very frustrating.

Any ideas how to revert that import would be appreciated, as well as thoughts on importing directly to group libraries. . .

mrshirts

Well, I noticed that imports go to a single folder, so I was able to just move the contents of -that- folder to the group library, then delete it, so it wasn't that bad.

dstillman

(Off-topic, but I assume you mean that you deleted the items within that collection (via Ctrl/Cmd-Delete or right-click->"Delete Selected Items from Library") rather than just the collection itself, which would leave the contents in your library. If not, though, and in general, you can always sort your library by Date Added in the middle pane to delete items added at a particular time.)

mrshirts

Yes, I deleted the selected items in the library, not just the folder they were in -- but thanks for the clarification, because it's something I was tripped up by in the past!

scottvanduyne

so, I didn't see any follow up lately on this one. I am building a personal lib with 10000+ items in it, including attatched files. I am planning to buy some storage form Zotero, create a group library, and then post these items on the group lib. It looks like the recommended way to do this upload is to open my local library, select all the items (10000+), and carefully drag them into the newly created group library. Right? Perhaps do this in chunks, 100 or 1000 at a time, and see if it is working?

danielreeders

I just tried to Export my personal library and then import it into my group library.

Each time I use Import (from RDF), even when the group library is selected, it adds the imported items as a collection in my *personal* library.

I have just discovered that deleting this collection doesn't remove all the items in it, so I now have five duplicate copies of every item in my library. *sigh*

The group library feature feels very half-baked, and I am very frustrated. Any ideas?

ajlyon

Just drag them into the group library. That's all. No import. No export.

The only limitation to this is that the collections can't be dragged-- just the items. So create the collections you need in the group, drag the items there.

danielreeders

Yes, I figured this out eventually. No, I'm not doing it.

This feature is the point where my hard work collecting citations delivers value back to Zotero - by drawing users to its site who may download Zotero, donate and participate.

It's a genius feature and Mendeley is absolutely killing it in the press and blogosphere with all its promises about collaborative citation and discussion.

I am going to wait until Zotero does this feature right before using it.

adamsmith

I don't actually think Mendeley is doing much killing. They just have more full-time community people and look flashier and spend their time twittering and following google alerts. Zotero's one community person is focused more on the actual community, establishing connections with people who volunteer or contribute for Zotero, something that simply doesn't exist for Mendeley.

Check out the worlds 50 best Universities and look how many of them offer Zotero workshops and how many offer Mendeley workshops. The ratio is something like 5 to 1.

All that said, I really don't understand what you see as the problem with the group feature. dragging and dropping citations could hardly be easier?

mark

@adamsmith, daniel is right though about Groups feeling half-baked (regardless of whether Mendeley does a better job at it or not). They are half-baked, at least user interface-wise. See for instance this topic, plus the inability to drag collections and the many exasperated comments by users when they discover the clunky web interface (never updated for two years) and the lack of ways to communicate with other group members.

adamsmith

well, sure there are many ways to improve them, but Daniel's frustration came from simply overlooking an existing feature and trying something way too complicated.
As for Mendeley, I just find those types of grandiose statements ("There is no future for Firefox", "Mendeley is killing" etc.) by people who've been using software for a day and dont' actually know much about it rather silly.

Apart from that, yes, collections should be draggable (and there's a ticket for that https://www.zotero.org/trac/ticket/1868 ) and as you know the web interface is being worked on quite a bit - with a lot of work going on in the background on cool features, e.g. server side translation, automatic tests of translators to make them more stable etc. As for your four interface proposals - the way I've been seeing Zotero devs work is usually doing large batches of work on one issue, so I'd expect them to get addressed when other issues of library--> group transactions get addressed. I know you've been frustrated by this at times (and in some cases, such as the notorious pdf parent item issue this has clearly dragged on for too long) , but you also have to see that for a small team of developers it's more effective to address one larger issue at a time than to jump from one small fixes to the next. Ideally, such small fixes could be submitted as patches from the community, but as of now I believe the only person outside of CHNM who understands the Zotero code well enough for that is fbennett.

dstillman

I've implemented collection dragging between libraries on the trunk. It'll appear in the next major version of Zotero.

dtoy

Great! When can we expect that next major version?

adamsmith

That refers to the 3.0 beta version, released a while ago.