merge the same items in a batch

fredericky

can zotero merge the same items in a batch with the conditions below?
1. for items with the same title and the same published year, keep the older one (older in the Date Add)
2. for duplicates pdfs, keep the older one

I notice that when titles are the same while the published year is not the same, zoterao will also regard the two items the same. Usually, one item is wrong, manural checking is needed. I hope these items will not be merged when implementing taks above.

Thanks a ton in advance!

LiborA

I would like to mention the case where the chosen logic does not give good results. Very often, I import "accepted" articles into Zotero. After the article has been included in a volume/issue, I import the article again. I update metadata in the Zotero by joining these two records. In these cases, the data in the older record is incorrect respectively incomplete.

fredericky

No, this is not the case for me. Usually, when I search literature for one project, I import some papers and make comments in the pdfs. Days later, I do literature search for another project and import some exact the same papers. The items and pdfs are exactly the same, however, I have already made comments in the first pdfs, therefore, I hope to keep the older one.

Actually, if users have options to keep older one, they must have options to keep the newer one. It depends on theri needs.