Can't move from my library to group library

KylaLongman
How to I move certain items from my personal library to a group library? I'm new to zotero, and I"m sure there's a very easy answer to this. I just can't figure it out myself.
  • adamsmith
    edited September 17, 2013
    You cannot do it in the online library, you have to do it in the Zotero client, i.e. either Zotero Standalone, or the panel that open when you click on "Zotero" at the bottom right of Firefox.
    There, you can just drag&drop individual items or entire collections. There are two reasons this may fail:
    1. You don't have editing privileges for the group you're trying to drag into
    2. The item you're trying to drag - possibly an older version - already exists in the group (this doesn't refer to the same citation, but the exact same Zotero item, i.e. you would have had to have put it in the group at an earlier time).

    (edit: this comes up quite a bit. Note to self or anyone else interested: we should have a knowledge base article for this - or do we already?)
  • aurimas
    (edit: this comes up quite a bit. Note to self or anyone else interested: we should have a knowledge base article for this - or do we already?)
    I'm actually not exactly clear on the intention of this behavior. I can see how you may want to prevent people from sometimes dragging the same item again and potentially overwritting changes made in the group library.

    IMO, this should just display a notification saying "This item already exists in the group library. Do you want to replace it?" or (since you could be dragging multiple items, only some of which exist in the destination library) "This operation will cause some of the existing items to be overwritten. Do you want to proceed?" (wording could use some tweaking perhaps).
  • adamsmith
    yup, these things should also throw errors instead of silently & puzzlingly failing.
    1. pointing out the lack of editing privileges and
    2. what aurimas says
    I like the option to replace rather than just fail, which would also make updating groups from "My Library" much easier.

    @Dan - would that be hard to do?

    I'd still want the kb article, though, not least because even the online vs. client thing is often not clear to beginners.
  • dstillman
    I don't think there needs to be an prompt, at least for regular items. If the item was previously dragged, it should just be updated with the dragged version, since that's clearly the intention.

    But the question is what happens to child items. If a note was previously included in a drag and the user's settings still include child notes in drags, should the group note be overwritten? Should a group attachment file be overwritten with the version in the source library? Should it depend on whether the item/file had been modified since being dragged (e.g., prompt/CR if conflict, otherwise overwrite)?
  • adamsmith
    Should it depend on whether the item/file had been modified since being dragged (e.g., prompt/CR if conflict, otherwise overwrite)?
    This imo. And only if the _group_ item has been edited since drag&drop.

    How about a message when you aren't allowed to edit, though?
  • dstillman
    This imo.
    I was afraid you were going to say that. We can probably do this, but it's not super easy (particularly if there's CR, but I think a prompt is sufficient), so might not happen for a while.
    And only if the _group_ item has been edited since drag&drop.
    Right. But I think technically the target item, regardless of drag direction.
  • dstillman
    How about a message when you aren't allowed to edit, though?
    Yeah, we can do that. Ticket created.
  • adamhodges
    It looks like this discussion partly addresses my question:

    https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/32192/changes-made-in-group-library-not-updating-entry-in-my-library/#Item_1

    In response to Dan’s early comments: “But the question is what happens to child items. If a note was previously included in a drag and the user's settings still include child notes in drags, should the group note be overwritten? Should a group attachment file be overwritten with the version in the source library? Should it depend on whether the item/file had been modified since being dragged (e.g., prompt/CR if conflict, otherwise overwrite)?”

    From a user’s perspective, it would be useful if the child items added in both the group and my library would be merged (rather than replaced) when updating one or the other. For example, if a group member adds a note to an entry, I might be interested in updating the entry in My Library to include that note but without deleting other notes I have made there.
  • knoblej
    I am still unable to drag items from My Library to the Group Library, even though I have accepted the group invitation and have repeatedly synced my Zotero. In the group library there is no Green '+' unlike in My library. Does anyone know how to fix that?
  • aurimas
    edited October 6, 2013
    That means you do not have editing permissions for that library. The owner of the group has to give you that permission http://www.zotero.org/support/groups#group_settings

    Edit: But for any further help, please start a new thread

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