"What collections my item is in?" doesn't seem to work

misencikjc
Hello,

Does anyone else have problems with the efficiency and effectiveness of using the Mac option key to highlight which collections a certain item appears in?

When I do searches and a list of items is returned, only rarely does hitting "option" actually highlight the collection that the item is in. Here is how it is supposed to work: http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/collections_containing_an_item

It seems to work more often if I first open a folder, find an item, close that collection, search my whole library, find the item that I just verified and then hit option--under those circumstances, it usually works but also defeats the purpose.

Is this just a small glitch or am I doing something wrong? Thanks.
  • adamsmith
    you're aware that you need to actually _hold_ the option key, not just hit it once?
    Otherwise this should work the way you use it.
  • RintzeRintze
    FWIW, collection high-lighting always has been very glitchy for me under Windows, on various systems. With Zotero 4.0.6 Standalone and Windows 7, and an item selected:

    - tapping control does nothing
    - holding control for a while (longer than ca. 0.5 s) will highlight the correct collections; releasing control will keep the collections highlighted
    - tapping control removes the highlighting, but holding control for a while and then releasing it doesn't
    - selecting a different item won't update or remove the highlighting
  • gpatten
    edited April 26, 2013
    On the Mac (OSX 10.8.3, Zotero 4.0.6), I find that moving the cursor across the scrollbar between the collections pane and the items pane, in either direction, or even just clicking it, despite the fact that I am still holding down the option key, causes the highlighting to vanish. That makes scrolling down a long list of collections to find the ones the item is in impossible. So this is something I only use for limited sets of subcollections, when I can be sure that all the ones I'm interested in are already on screen.
  • misencikjc
    Thanks everyone. Yes, I'm aware control needs to be held down. On Zotero standalone, it works pretty consistently for me and if I don't have much bogging down Firefox, it also seems to work pretty good with my following method...

    Best method for me has been to hold down control, scroll all the way through My Library collections on the left (which only takes .5 seconds for ~100 folders). If its not visible, then I release control, then press control again and it almost always shows up. This has been my method with same results regardless of whether or not all the sub-collections in My Library are fully expanded or not.

    I can definitely live with that and very happy to have found this function.
  • dstillman
    FWIW, collection high-lighting always has been very glitchy for me under Windows
    I can reproduce this on Windows. Works fine for me on OS X and Linux. Issue created.
  • RintzeRintze
    Great, thanks for looking into this. It has been bugging me forever.
  • misencikjc
    Hmmm, I can't get this to work at all right now whereas back in April when I originally posted I could at least get it to work most of the time. Thanks for looking into this.
  • dstillman
    edited August 12, 2013
    If it's not working for you at all, it's likely a different issue. But it's also not clear what OS you're using: your original post mentions OS X, but in your later post you refer to using the Control key, which only works on Windows.

    Rintze's issues above are about glitchiness on Windows. I've never seen any problems with this on OS X.
  • dstillman
    edited August 12, 2013
    On the Mac (OSX 10.8.3, Zotero 4.0.6), I find that moving the cursor across the scrollbar between the collections pane and the items pane, in either direction, or even just clicking it, despite the fact that I am still holding down the option key, causes the highlighting to vanish.
    Reproduced, and ticket created.
    That makes scrolling down a long list of collections to find the ones the item is in impossible.
    Assuming you have a scroll wheel or trackpad, you can still scroll as long you start the cursor within the collections view.
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