Ref view in folders and subfolders

michelleh8
I read that it is default for refs in subfolders to not be visible in the parent folder, but my references still show in the parent folder. I confirmed that the recursive collections were set to "false," so I'm not sure where to go from here.

Thanks!
  • dstillman
    Most likely either you placed the items in both collections or they're not actually the same items. Have you tried removing them from the parent?
  • michelleh8
    Thanks for your help. The way that I "moved" the items into the subfolders was by selecting them with a check mark on zotero.org and selecting "add to collection" and then choosing one of the subfolders. Does that mean that the items are now in both collections? If so, is there a way to see which references are in both collections?
  • michelleh8
    The reason I ask is because I'm trying to identify which items havent been placed in a subfolder yet- do you have any suggestions on how to do this? I dont appear to have any duplicates in my library
  • dstillman
    Does that mean that the items are now in both collections?
    Yes. These are collections, not folders. Think of them as iTunes playlists.

    You should read this before you continue: https://www.zotero.org/support/collections_and_tags#the_zotero_collections_model

    Beyond that, for real work in Zotero you want to be using one of the clients — either Zotero for Firefox or Zotero Standalone — rather than the website. There's a special Unfiled Items search in those that makes it easy to find items that don't exist in any collections, and there's an easy way to see which collections a given item is in.
  • dstillman
    (Which isn't to say that you can't make changes via the website, but if you're trying to do any sort of complicated organization, the client is the way to go.)
  • michelleh8
    I have Zotero standalone so that's one step in the right direction. The thing is that I'm trying to organize 1300 items. So far, 1000 of the items are in subcollections, but I'm not sure how to identify the remaining 300.
    From what it seems, you can only view the collections that an item is in by looking at one item a time. Is there a more efficient way to identify my remaining 300 items?
    Thank you again!
  • dstillman
    Well, one option would be to simply remove all the items from the parent collection. Then any that weren't filed elsewhere would show up in Unfiled Items.

    If you have other unfiled items in your library and want to limit your current work to this collection and its subcollections, you could create an advanced search (or saved search) for [Collection] [is] [parent collection] and [Collection] [is not] [child collection] (and more for any other child collections). Then you'd see all items that were in the parent collection and not any of the child collections.
  • michelleh8
    I dont have any unfiled items so I think I can go with your first suggestion.

    To remove all the items from the parent collection, would I right click the collection in Zotero standalone and then select "Delete Collection and Items" or "Delete collection," or would I select all of the items in the collection, right click, and select "Remove items from collection"?
  • michelleh8
    I was able to identify the unfiled items with the 3rd method- thanks for the tip! Now I see that there are 11 more items in my collections than were in the library- Is there a way to see which items are in multiple collections?

    Thank you again!
  • michelleh8
    When trying to view the subcollections that each item is in, I click on the item and press down the "option" key (Im on a mac) and its not working- Is there something else I should be doing since Im looking for subcollections?
  • adamsmith
    that should definitely work. Note that this won't automatically scroll to make said collection visible and note that saved searches (including "Duplicate" and "Unfiled") are not collections.
    So select an item that you know is in a collection, make sure you see that collection on the left and then hold the option key -- does that highlight it?

    If not, are you in Firefox or Zotero Standalone? If the former, disable all other extensions, restart Firefox and try again.
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