Upgrade StorageMultiple linked instances of notes
Is it possible to rethink the current paradigm that differentiates standalone notes from child notes? The advantage of standalone notes, from a research perspective, is their portability: they can be moved to any folder or subfolder, and can have multiple linked instances in those folders so that any changes to any instance of that note are reflected in all instances, just like what you can do with reference entries. This is very useful in organizing notes for a particular project.
However, child notes under references seem much more restricted in that regard. You cannot create another instance of a child note without first de-linking it from its source, i.e., converting it to a standalone note. True, you can create a duplicate of a child note and then convert the duplicate to standalone, but that is an inelegant workaround, particularly if you need to revise the content of the note.
In other words, under the current paradigm, child notes do not share the functions of standalone notes.
Would it be useful to make all standalone notes linked instances of child notes? For notes that are truly standalone (not related to any reference, e.g., random thoughts), perhaps they can be made child notes of an "empty" or generic template.
There are two advantages in this paradigm. Notes enjoy the same level of flexibility as references so that you can organize them in terms of projects (or their parts). You can also read your notes from the perspective of their sources.
Of course, currently you can use the "related" function to link a note to its source and then go to that source to see all related items. But this workaround seems cumbersome especially in terms of navigation. I would think that perhaps a "forward" and "back" button would help in that regard, but they do not currently exist.
However, child notes under references seem much more restricted in that regard. You cannot create another instance of a child note without first de-linking it from its source, i.e., converting it to a standalone note. True, you can create a duplicate of a child note and then convert the duplicate to standalone, but that is an inelegant workaround, particularly if you need to revise the content of the note.
In other words, under the current paradigm, child notes do not share the functions of standalone notes.
Would it be useful to make all standalone notes linked instances of child notes? For notes that are truly standalone (not related to any reference, e.g., random thoughts), perhaps they can be made child notes of an "empty" or generic template.
There are two advantages in this paradigm. Notes enjoy the same level of flexibility as references so that you can organize them in terms of projects (or their parts). You can also read your notes from the perspective of their sources.
Of course, currently you can use the "related" function to link a note to its source and then go to that source to see all related items. But this workaround seems cumbersome especially in terms of navigation. I would think that perhaps a "forward" and "back" button would help in that regard, but they do not currently exist.
There's been talk before (touched on in an old ticket) of enabling outlining by allowing child notes to be dragged either to collections or to some sort of dedicated outline container. I think that's closer to what you're asking for.
I guess the reason why I remain somewhat fixed on child notes is that placing notes under a reference entry sounds like the most logical way to store the "original" notes. Also, more often than not we enter notes as we read a particular reference. It would be nice if we could then create a linked instance of any given note in a project folder, for example. That would make Zotero a perfect, at least near perfect, research and writing tool.
If I understand it correctly, all entries in collections in Zotero are but links from "My Library," so perhaps it is more a matter of tweaking the linking function.
In any event, I am sorry I was not aware of the old ticket, which pretty much is what I am suggesting. Given that that ticket is five years old, is it unlikely that its suggestions will be considered anytime soon?
Is in anyhow possible to relate stand alone notes to other stand alone notes or to references? That would be very helpful!