Problem creating new collection

poirmw
I've never had a problem creating a new collection, ...until now. Mind you, I have not done this often, but it has always worked. What am I doing that is wrong? It must be me, but what is it? a) I search for all entries in my database containing a particular term, b) I highlight the entries, c) I place my cursor on the first highlighted entry, d) I carry the entries to the new collection, and e) nothing happens.

I am using the latest version of Zotero.

Thank you in advance.

mwpoir
  • adamsmith
    so the problem is dragging items to a collection, not creating the collection, do I understand that correctly?
  • poirmw
    I don't think that it is a dragging problem. Let me say why. When I block-off the items I want to move to the new collection, a fainter representation of the blocked-off items follows my cursor to the new collection name, but nothing get transferred when I release the cursor. However, if I do one item at a time, it works. But I have 171 items, so I would like to do more than one at a time. I would preferably like to do all of them. It seems to me that doing a number of items at a time was possible in the past. Or am I wrong about that?

    mwpoir
  • adamsmith
    That sounds exactly like a problem dragging items. I'm not saying you're doing something wrong, but it's the dragging operation that fails, not the creating a collection operation.
    Is that collection in a different group/library?
    When you drag & drop --> does it get highlighted?
  • aurimas
    Drag-and-dropping is a bit buggy at least on Windows. As per adamsmith's response, the collection _should_ get highlighted, but the label of the collection may also disappear, which also means the same (i.e. it got "highlighted").
  • poirmw
    Ah, well, then maybe you are right. I am not sure about what you mean when you ask: "Is that collection in a different group/library? The entries are in "My library", and I want to create a new collection beneath "My library." When I drag and drop a number of items gathered from "My library" into the new group, nothing get highlighted, and there is no activity at all. However, as I said, if I pick up a single item from "My library" and try to move it to a new collection, it works. It seems to have something to do with how many items I am trying to move. poirmw
  • dstillman
    1) Create a new collection to test this in, and clear out the collection before every drag attempt.

    2) Provide a Debug ID for a drag attempt that fails.

    3) Find the smallest set of items that fail. You can do this very quickly by trying to copy half of the items at a time. If one half fails, try half of that, and so on.
  • poirmw
    Debug ID: D1927278155.

    The smallest set was 2.
  • dstillman
    Two of any items, or two specific items?
  • poirmw
    If I understand your question correctly: the first two items on a search list of 74 items in total.

    poirmw
  • dstillman
    No, I'm asking whether you can get it to occur with any two items in your library, or whether it's two specific items that are causing it. The goal is to figure out the conditions under which it occurs.
  • aurimas
    What OS is this? Are you sure the collection you are dragging to gets highlighted/label disappears? Sometimes you need to hover over the collection for a bit before it does.
  • poirmw
    Re.: Mr. Stillman's Question: On further testing, it appears that the maximum number of items that I can transfer from "My library" to a collection is _any_ three items.

    Mr. Aurimas' question: My OS is XP, and, when I am attempting to transfer more than three items, "yes", a blue shadowy representation of the collection appears as I hover over the designated collection, but when I release the mouse, and enter the collection, there is nothing there.

    poirmw
  • dstillman
    What was the "2" items above, then? Can you provide a Debug ID for a drag attempt for four items?

    Are these all regular top-level items with metadata? If any child items are selected, this won't work.
    a blue shadowy representation of the collection appears as I hover over the designated collection
    Not totally sure what you mean by this.
  • poirmw
    I thought that this was an issue that might be resolves quickly, but apparently I was wrong. As a consequence, I will have to bow out of this discussion for the foreseeable future owing to other pressing matters. If the problem is not resolved in the interim, I hope to be able to return to this issue after my teaching is over. I apologise for having mobilised people around this matter. Poirmw
  • poirmw
    Problem solved. As Aurimas notes above: "Drag-and-dropping is a bit buggy at least on Windows." In fact, it is more than "a bit buggy" on my machine. It has a tendency to not work at all, and right when I think that its a fault with the programme, it works. Many thanks to all who offered help. poirmw

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