Better search

Hi,

I have been using Zotero for some months, and I am very satisfied of it. First of all, congratulations and thank you!

However, the search function is rather limited. The simple search is too simple. I would like to see something with the functionality you can find in BibDesk, for instance (booleans, wildcards). The ability to limit the search to some fields (e.g., title:literature) would be very convenient (it is a big problem with simple search insists on searching within attached items, when I want to search for a creator or a word in the summary). Yes, I am working with a fairly large database, around 5500 items.

Another big problem is that if you perform some operations after a search (such as deleting an item), the search disappears, and one have to type the search terms again. It might be persistent.

For the advanced search:
- Ability to select booleans (AND, OR, NOT) for each of the search items (not only All or Any of the terms).
- Regular expressions support (this is a big one, I now). At least, some more wildcards and booleans within each item.
- Number of items found.

A lot of things, I now!

Thank you, again.
  • I believe that an overhaul to the search is planned for the version after 3.0. There is some discussion on the forums about this.
  • edited October 5, 2011
    I believe that an overhaul to the search is planned for the version after 3.0.
    Yes, it is.

    You can technically perform boolean searches by chaining saved searches ("Saved Search" "is" [...]), though it might be a bit buggy. And regexps are actually already supported in the Attachment Content search condition if you click the little arrow in the search field. We might be able to bring those to other fields.
  • I would like to second the OP's smaller request, that text entered into the search window be a bit more persistent. Currently, if I enter a search term, realize I've got the wrong folder and select a different one (moving from a group library to my personal library, for example), my search term disappears and needs to be reentered (I'm running Zotero 2.1.10). It seems like that would be a much more limited change which could be implemented before a complete overhaul (Zotero 2.1.11? 2.2? :), and would certainly improve my experience with Zotero...
  • edited October 5, 2011
    Currently, if I enter a search term, realize I've got the wrong folder and select a different one (moving from a group library to my personal library, for example), my search term disappears and needs to be reentered
    That is by design and unlikely to change, but there are some other changes that could help with this. (Read the whole thread for context.)

    But the OP is correct that clearing the search shouldn't be necessary for something like a deletion.
  • Hi, is there a ticket for preventing the search window from clearing upon deleting an item? I would find this fix tremendously helpful.

    Incidentally, how can I search existing tickets to check something like this?
  • Oh, the search box also clears upon adding an attachment to an item, which I would prefer not to happen.
  • edited August 21, 2012
    I would find it very helpful to have of some these search features in the server-side library collections, where appropriate. I run a public on-line library, and the current search is rudimentary. Specifically:

    1. When focus is a collection, the collection and its sub-collections should be the target of the search, not just the current collection.
    (Similarly, Tag selection should include tagged items in sub-collections. Currently, the only effective way to search by tag is to stand in the top of the library.)

    2. Search terms, such as 'author', 'title', 'date added', 'published date' or 'Everything' (such as in the client-side library search) would be very helpful.

    3. In the server-side results window, selectable fields in the results window would be a great help (as in the client-side search).

    4. The addition of a 'Loc' column in the results window (server-side as well as client-side), showing the collection/subcollection of items selected would be a great help in steering users to items of similar interest.
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