Cannot rearrange items

Beckengel
Now that I have version 4.0.8 what is new about it ?
I cant even copy from one collection to another.
All I can do is to move an item from Unified Items to another collection but the opposite operation is not possible. Once the Item is placed in a collection, all you can do is to delete it ! you cant move it to anohter collection. But if you are lucky, it may happen that you can copy your Item to another collection. But that requires luck....
Zotero's behaviour is unpredictable.
  • adamsmith
    What's new in Zotero 4.0
    http://www.zotero.org/blog/2013/04/

    Nothing concerning collection management and moving items in collections has changed. If you're seeing different behavior than before, provide specific steps to reproduce as well as error report IDs:
    http://www.zotero.org/support/reporting_bugs#provide_steps_to_reproduce
  • Beckengel
    This issue on rearranging has been discussed by different uses, it seems that Adamsmith does not consider it a problem.
  • fbennett
    If you can provide a link to the other discussion, it will bring everything to one place, where any problems can be seen clearly.
  • Beckengel
    Here is a quotation from the Documentation - Collections - Adding Items to Collections
    To assign items to a collection, select them in the center column and drag and drop them onto a collection. New items are automatically saved into the selected collection.
    Comment: forget it! It does not work, never did work (tried oven a year, reinstalled, yet no, it is not working other than sometimes)

    To move an item from a parent collection to a subcollection, simply 1) expand the collection to display the subcollection(s) but do not open them; and 2) from the parent collection, drag the items from the center column into the desired subcollection. If you do not want to keep the item in the parent collection; it should still be highlighted in the center panel. Pressing the delete key on the keyboard will remove it from the parent collection but it will remain in the subcollection.

    Comment: Forget it ! it does not work like that !
  • aurimas
    edited May 25, 2013
    You are either
    1. doing something wrong (i.e. not as you describe above)

    2. our understanding of what "does not work" means is different

    3. or your installation of Zotero is broken
    AFAIK, you are the first out of thousands of users to ever mention that this is not working. It is certainly working for us. Edit: Perhaps you are dragging an attachment? See this thread

    If it's #1, then I'm not sure how we can help you. Your own description is pretty clear.

    It's not exactly clear what you mean by "does not work". Does the item not appear in the collection you are dragging to?

    Assuming that it may be #3, please provide a Debug ID. Enable debugging, drag an item to a collection, submit the log to server and post the Debug ID here.
  • adamsmith
    My understanding is that Beckengel is unhappy about the way collections work. This is her/his 5th thread or so on the topic.
    I suggest you just stop using Zotero, I think it'll make everyone happier.
  • Beckengel
    I have been criticizing on this subject repeatedly and the more you explain the worse it gets since you are unable to receive criticism. I am using Zotero since I do not know any alternative right now.
    I am repeating again and again:
    - there should be a display on items that appear in several places as copies (not duplicates).
    - there should be a simple drag/drop moving the items between collections; I mean moving, and not copying (very annoying).
    - there should be a way to unfile an item (is there any ?)
    - there should be a back/forth button for navigation between collections
    Besides: I am unable to follow the instructions in Documentation.
    Just take the instructions 1) and 2) I quoted. Instruction 2) cancels instruction 1) so what is the point ? why not just drag and drop a collection A to another collection B. I am doing that but first have to make sure that A is not already in B, otherwise cannot drag and drop (which results in copying and not moving)
    All this is very annoying and I am surprized that nobody understands my criticism.
  • adamsmith
    We've explained why things are as they are and why they're not going to change. We've listened to what you have to say, we just don't agree. You don't have to like that - it's a free country and all - but you'll have to accept it if you want to continue using Zotero. There are plenty of alternatives: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_reference_management_software

    You don't even have the decency to post in your various old threads, but you're starting new ones in which busy people like Aurimas and fbennett try to help you, assuming you have a real problem rather than a disagreement with Zotero design, wasting their time. Since volunteer time is a scarce resource, I'd recommend to Dan or Sean to just ban you at this point.
  • adamsmith
    For reference and to explain my tone here:
    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/28556/
    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/27765/
    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/27096/
    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/27095/
  • Beckengel
    edited May 25, 2013
    It is clear that the Zotero adm is unable to receive criticism
    They would respond with a ban.
    People who do not accept criticism are dictator types, and therefore need to go for a course in basic values of a democracy.
    They should be apologizing and admitting the limitations of the program, which they say will not be changed, never ever.
    OK, I will now investigate som other similar programs.
  • fbennett
    @Beckengel

    Oh, dear. No one is banning you, and I am pretty sure that the people who responded to you in this thread and others are in favor of democracy.

    Zotero is a single system, though, and choices do need to be made. If there are solid reasons behind a particular design choice, there isn't much people can do beyond explaining them to you.
  • adamsmith
    I actually did suggest banning - not because s/he's rude, but because s/he repeatedly posts in bad faith - asking for links to code and then complaining that it's too technical, pretending to report a new problem when s/he's in fact just bringing up the same thing again etc. This has caused a lot of wasted time and I just don't see the point in letting that continue.
  • fbennett
    Oops, missed that, sorry. Time is indeed precious, I stand corrected.
  • dstillman
    Beckengel can no longer post to the forums. Sorry to waste everyone's time by not doing that sooner.
This discussion has been closed.