Syncing items between My Library and Groups Library

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  • Leopold
    is this feature still in the planning? would be very useful indeed
  • adamsmith
    no changes on this. Still planned, not closer to being implemented than two month ago.
  • lupa18
    +1 very useful
  • msena505
    +1 can't wait to have it
  • jcaceres
    +1 very useful
  • mickmorrison
    Another vote from me, for what it's worth. I am working across 8 group libraries with 10-15 other users, and not having items syncing between personal/group libraries has me awash with duplicates :(
  • zumba
    Just to be clear - you can just drag over collections between personal libraries and groups. There are no two windows involved and no copy&paste

    And can you please tell us how can I do this??
  • adamsmith
    In the Zotero software (not on the webpage) just drag items or collections between libraries. There's no special trick involved.
  • zumba
    but in the zotero software i have just my library and i don`t have group library:( i have group library just on the webpage
  • zumba
    ok never mind i found it, thank youu!!
  • moorepants
    Seems like this has never been implemented.

    +1 for implementing syncing from group to personal libraries.

    Mabye the model should be that there is one entry in the database for a zotero item and someone owns it. When shared with a group others can edit that entry and add notes, etc. I think this is the google doc model. If you share a google doc, then everyone edits your copy. If they want their own copy, you have to explicitly copy it.
  • daburford
    I'm new to Zotero. Just started today. And I've been trying to get individual references (e.g. by drag and drop, etc.) from my personal library to a group library with no success. Been reading posts etc. but still with no joy. Is there a way to do this yet? Or am I simply missing how its done. Appreciate your help. Thanks.
  • daburford
    Forgot to mention, I'm using Google Chrome. Can I sync with Chrome, or do I need to use Firefox?
  • adamsmith
    do you have Zotero Standalone installed? You don't need Firefox, but you'll need a Zotero application installed.
  • WISELI
    I have a large and complicated library with several collections. Many individual entries are included in several different folders within a collection. I created a group library and successfully moved several collections into the group library. My question ... going forward as I add new entries ... what is the simplest most efficient way to sync my library with the group library? I know that within any one folder, I can drag newly added items to the appropriate folder in the group library ... but if I do this for new entries in multiple folders within a collection, I will create a whole bunch of duplicates. I had hoped to be able to drag the entire updated collection which I hoped would add all new entries to the appropriate folders ... but I cannot do that. Any advice for syncing collections as opposed to individual entries? Thanks!!
  • dstillman
    edited August 28, 2014
    I can drag newly added items to the appropriate folder in the group library ... but if I do this for new entries in multiple folders within a collection, I will create a whole bunch of duplicates
    Have you tried? You shouldn't get duplicates. Zotero tracks dragged items behind the scenes and won't copy them a second time.
  • WISELI
    Hmm -- I thought I tried and get a bunch of duplicates ... but I must have done something else ... don't know what!! Because I just tried again and you are absolutely correct ... no duplicates. This will help a lot. Thanks!
  • jeffalstott
    +1 for this feature request. Right now my collaboration workflow is very stilted, and this would be a big help!
  • denlinkd
    +nthing. Just helped a faculty member who would've been very happy with this feature. Ideally, it'd be great to get away from "group libraries" altogether and just be able to share individual collections in the same way one would share a Google Drive folder--but that's another request for another time. :)
  • jcaceres
    Please working on Syncing items between My Library and Groups Library
    is a very important aspect for us:

    - I usually use both, attachments and related-links, I currently import items into my library, then copy from there to group. However, since we just started a group project, this leads to the problem that my collaborators add notes in the group library. This results in having to work with each item in two different libraries: In the group library, if I want to read/edit notes, and in my library if I want to follow related links or open an attachment.
    If I would want to work only in my library, I would have to constantly look for new notes and copy those to my library, which is annoying and almost impossible.

    I think, and this is my feature request, it would be much more convenient, if I could specify a collection in my library and this collection would sync to a specified group. This could be made easily, by simply mirroring and syncing the group folder in my library.
  • adamsmith
    there's really no reason to +1 this--Dan has said right at the beginning of this thread that it's planned so no one needs convincing. It's not going to happen any faster if people write +1. There are some other threads that discuss intermittent solutions that are likely going to happen faster, such as smarter behavior when drag&dropping between libraries.
  • JordiSunshine
    Ok, but this thread started in 2010.... and it still has not been added? I was, like many here, about to create a group library to share with colleagues. Made notes on one item in my zotero... looked at library copy and found it was a distinct copy and not updating my library....
  • adamsmith
    Correct, this hasn't been implemented. Good software planning means that you know which features you'd like to implement long before you implement them. There are many Zotero features that have been planned since its inception in 2006 and haven't yet been implemented.
  • JordiSunshine
    Ok, thanks for update. So, any idea if or when it might be?

    Also, I just added a note to a record in my zotero. I dragged into a group library and the note didn't even go the first time.

    In other words, does moving to a group library strip notes and tags from the record? I am not talking about syncing to copies, bust simply keeping data on the first (copying) move to the group library.

    Is this normal? The loss of a note?
  • adamsmith
    You don't lose the note, the same item just can't be copied to the group again, so right now you'd have to delete it in the group, empty the trash, then re-copy it from your library.

    That behavior will likely be the first thing to improve. I'd hope that would happen this year, but it really is hard to say, Zotero has a small team.

    Actual syncing between library and group items is quite tricky to do properly and in a way that addresses various expectations and use-cases, so I wouldn't want to predict when that's going to land. I'd highly doubt it'd be this year.
  • taozotero
    edited April 19, 2016
    Any updates on the implementation of this feature? It's another year passed. Thanks!
  • mfa.abusayed
    Mendeley has this feature, but it doesn't have a separate group library. It implements only the sync use case.

    I find it more convenient to keep the items in your personal lib and share it via groups.

    Another option is to add two group entities:
    1- Group owned library, which is a static copy of the references separated from the personal lib
    2- Group sharing space lib:shared items from personal groups.

    This is quite tricky, to be honest :)
  • mfa.abusayed
    I concur adding this feature.
  • manuela.runge
    An updated discussion can be found here:
    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/68619/how-to-keep-items-in-personal-and-group-library-updated

    However, seems not yet implemented or to be implemented anytime soon.

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