Feature request: Search for Folder Name

kb

Hi,

I have quite a substantial list of folders in my library and would like to search for a specific folder. I don't think this is possible at the moment. I suggest an additional search field for this purpose.

At the moment I would either have to scroll and find it by hand or search for a paper that is "probably" in the folder and press CTRL to highlight the folders where it is included.

If there is already a way to do the search please enlighten me. Otherwise, would you support this feature? If someone points me in the right direction I could start a commit on github.

adamsmith

you can search for collections in advanced search. As a quick search feature, there has been some discussion around this -- the biggest challenge here is probably not the code per se but getting the behavior right.

Neither a new search field nor integration into the existing quick search are particularly attractive. I vaguely remember @dstillman having some ideas about how he would want this to look -- maybe he can point to those if he remembers or you could try to find them here.

kb

Hi adamsmith and thanks for your reply.

Actually you can't search for a collection (as far as I see it) in advanced search - if you select collection in the dropdown list than the input field (where you would type the search string) changes to a dropdown list of all available collections.

I found this from @dstillman: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/290260#Comment_290260 - I actually second the motion of Ronaldo M. Gomes.

However, It's not clear to me (pay in mind I'm a novice to functions in the background of the zotero program) why its a bad idea to include it in the existing quick search field.
I suggest to add a new entry in the triangle-dropdown menu in the quick search field which says "collection". Then if you use that you either get a popup with the search results (it could just link to a advanced search but with the search string used) or if there is only one result you get directly to that folder - as if you would have clicked on it.

BTW I'm assuming here that its non-trivial or attractive to display collection names in the middle window.

What are your thoughts about this?

adamsmith

Because the quick search field works essentially like a filter on the items displayed in the middle panel: it returns all items with a given property from the current view. That logic obviously won't work for collections (because you want it to return collections, not items) and having a search work completely differently when picking a different option isn't a good idea. This presumably needs to be integrated somehow in the collection tree on the left.

edit: and sorry about Advanced Search, I had misremembered that. Same problem, though -- searches return items, not collections

djross3

Would it be possible to add a 'collection' item that in itself lists all of the other collections in the middle pane? Then you could sort, skim, or search. Columns could include name, number of items, date added/modified. You could even add tagging or notes.

Obviously that would take some substantial changes to the software, but it would work with the UI smoothly.

I've never had (or even imagined) this problem because I have so few collections, but now that it's been brought up, I wonder if part of why I'm having trouble finding things is because I'm now using enough :)

adamsmith

Either this is possible within the current logic (and I think it is) or it's not going to happen.

djross3

I assumed it wasn't, and would need to wait for a major revision. But if it is, great! (Of course if something else like a popup menu solves this instead but more easily, I don't object at all. I was just thinking of the current UI.)

kb

@adamsmith
Thanks for the explanation. Ok, so we would need a separate quick search/filter field in or above the collection part of the program. Can we efficiently update the items shown in the collection tree?

dstillman

If there is already a way to do the search please enlighten me.

You can press + to expand all collections and then just type the beginning of a collection name to select it. While not a replacement for a full search (particularly if you have multiple collections with the same name or need to search by something other than the beginning of the name), this is sufficient in many cases.

kb

@dstillman
Thanks, I've read your tip in the other discussion from Gomes I linked above. Personally, I think that's not sufficient. I also find it quite confusing - at first I thought it would only ever find the first instance but that's not true. "optic" (optical, optics, ...) is such a word that is quite common in my library. It does jump to other instances if you do "op" then wait and then type "op" again but its not efficient or reliable because you have to get the timing right.

What do you think of adding a quick search/filter input field for the collection tree?

dstillman

Better collection searching is planned, so it's not necessary to discuss the merits of that. I was just sharing an existing feature that can be used in some cases.

kb

Ok, I didn't know this was in the pipeline. I just wanted to make the case for the advanced search of collections again - not downplaying your suggestion ;-)
BTW: great work on zotero in general