How to click on other tags from the collection which doesn't contain items tagged with them?

proton2020

Dear everyone,
Zotero is a powerful note-taking citation manager. However, when using this software I am not comfortable because I cannot quickly click on other tags from the collection which doesn't contain items tagged with them. Every time I want to click on a particular tag which isn't available in the current collection, I have to return to the My library to show all tags and click on the tag I want to view the items which have tagged with it. I also search on the Internet to see any add-ons could provide this function but I see nothing can satisfy my issue. I would like to share my thoughts on this case and hope someone can help me.
Thanks for your consideration,
Best regards,
Proton

dstillman

If you're in a collection and click on a tag, and then decide you want to filter on another tag that's not linked to one of the same items, you just click on the first tag again to deselect it and then click on the other tag. If you've selected multiple tags and want to reset quickly, you can also click the tag selector menu and choose Deselect All.

proton2020

Thanks for your reply.
However, I mean that if I am in the collection A (with several items but no items linked with tag X), then I have some ideas to view other items linked with tag X (outside the collection A), but I cannot click on tag X because its status is blurred (not clickable due to there is no items linked with it). Therefore, I have to return My Library folder to show all tags available and select the tag X to view items. This process takes time and interrupt my thoughts.

dstillman

I'm not following this. If you're in collection A, and there are no items linked to tag X, then obviously you can't click on tag X while you're in that collection — there wouldn't be anything to show.

If you want to assign one or more items to tag X in collection A, you can enable "Display All Tags in This Library" in the tag selector menu and then drag items to tag X, and then it will be active and clickable. But if there are no items, then of course you first have to click on My Library or some other collection that actually has items matching that tag.

proton2020

Yes, I understand that if there are no items linked with the tag X in my current view collection A then I cannot click on tag X to see items linked with it. Therefore I have to "click on My Library or some other collection that actually has items matching that tag". In my opinion, this is inconvenient step. Could we have a quick click on tag X regardless we are in any collection and we can see items linked with tag X just in a click?

dstillman

No, that makes no sense. The items list shows you the items in the collection or view you're currently in, and the tag selector and the search bar both filter those items. It can't just start displaying items from other collections in the items list while you still have a collection selected.

dstillman

It's not inconceivable that there could be an option in a tag's context menu that would take you to the library root with that tag selected, which would save you the trouble of finding the tag again after switching views. But it definitely can't show you items from other collections while you're still in the current collection.

proton2020

Thanks for your explanation on the mechanics behind. I know this is the way Zotero filters the items.
Anyway, I still have an idea if a user could quickly click or switch to a particular tag while he is in any collection to view items linked with this tag, then he deselects this particular tag and returns to the current collection. It will bring the seamless procedure for one to use Zotero for his research. Does this idea make sense?

dstillman

In the future it may be possible to open a library view in a new window. That, paired with the context-menu option I describe above, would let you view linked items separately without disturbing the current view.

proton2020

Yes, this function will make Zotero more flexible for users. Many thanks.