Duplicates folder show items from deleted collections

dstillman

This discussion was created from comments split from: Prevent duplicate during import.

dosware

The additional issue I have noticed is that the duplicates folder continues to display duplicate entries from collections that have been deleted (by "Delete Collection") - why are those records still visible in the duplicates folder?

Zotero is not the optimal reference manager for importing records from related (but different) search database queries which may output many shared records. Dealing with merging or deleting large numbers of duplicates is a tedious record-by-record click and merge process (no automated batch capabilities). IMO, a citation manager should handle duplicates much more transparently. Zotero also needs a database analysis feature (how many duplicate and or unique records exist? per library, per collection?). Those stats can be informative.

dstillman

(Please start new threads for new issues — the thread you posted to isn't related. I've moved this to a new thread.)

You're misunderstanding how collections work. Simply deleting a collection doesn't delete the items — they may exist in other collections and regardless will continue to exist in the library root. If you want to actually delete the items, you need to choose "Delete Collection and Items".

https://www.zotero.org/support/collections_and_tags#the_zotero_collections_model

dosware

Thanks much for clarifying! I now better understand why a collection where a record is imported is more a virtual locater for items rather than a hard-linked location.