Select text, create item and note using translator

egh
Hi all,

Maybe I'm missing something, but if I select text on a page that has a usable translator (e.g. http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001543), right click, and select "Zotero > Create Zotero item and note from selection", I would expect Zotero to use the translator, not create a new generic "web page" item.

Thanks. I searched the forums for information about this, but I couldn't find anything.

best, Erik
  • adamsmith
    I like having the option to create a note with a translator, but I'd be concerned--and I'd expect Dan to be concerned--about conflating what Zotero does when using right-click--> Create Zotero item depending on whether or not a translator is present.
  • egh
    Thanks for the response. Yes, that makes sense. The Zotero menu is pretty small; maybe a 3rd option would make sense if a translator is present.
  • dstillman
    That's definitely been our traditional concern, but in this one case, since it's a pretty buried option and translator-based saving is likely what people want/expect, I'm open to overloading the option and having it save the best kind of item it can.
  • egh
    Thanks, Dan. Is this something that I can help with?
  • dstillman
    edited May 30, 2014
    Sure (assuming no one else has strong objections to this):

    https://github.com/zotero/zotero/issues/493

    (I can't assign this to you, but if you post in the thread I might be able to.)

    One unresolved question is what should happen if there are multiple results on the page. It wouldn't make sense if the user selected multiple items, but I don't know that we particularly want into get in customizing the select items dialog to allow only a single selection. That'd be one option, though.
  • adamsmith
    One unresolved question is what should happen if there are multiple results on the page.
    I don't know the code details at that point, but I assume it would be possible to test for something like

    if (detectWeb(doc, url) && detectWeb(doc, url)!="multiple")

    and indeed that should be done - if someone really wants to create a note from something on a search results (or similar) page, the page should be saved as a webpage item.
  • studiosus
    Is there any development on this issue?

    It would be really great if one could "Create Zotero Item and Note from Selection" by using the translation, i.e. it would save all the available metadata.

    I use this option very often when collecting material, especially from the websites. For example, excerpts from the NYT or The Economist articles.

    Now, after the years of usage I thought it would be great to sort the relevant Notes according to the years they were published (and not when the Note was created), but found that all the data was just saved as a webpage and only date was the date I created the note...
  • adamsmith
    nothing new. This would likely depend on a patch by Erik or someone else. I don't think this is something Zotero devs are likely to get to any time soon.
  • egh
    Sadly, I've made no progress. I'll have another look at how difficult this will be.
  • sakhamdi
    Hi,
    I want to be able to select text and create note from my browser (Mozilla)and I am not able to see this option for 'select text create item and note' when I right click on the selected text. Can anyone help me with this?
    Thanks.
  • adamsmith
    right-click --> Zotero --> Create Zotero Item and Note from Selection.
  • egh
    Hi Sakhamdi,

    This feature is not implemented yet.

    best, Erik
  • sakhamdi
    Thanks for your reply. It is only showing me one option when I right click i.e. create webpage item from current page.
  • sakhamdi
    Okay. Thanks Erik@egh for letting me know.
  • egh
    Sorry, Sakhamdi. Adam Smith is correct as usual. You should see the 2nd option if you have selected text on web page.
  • adamsmith
    and that's in Firefox? You should have two options with no selected text, three options with selected text. Which Zotero version? Which Firefox version? And you're positive you're clicking on selected text?
  • sakhamdi
    edited February 4, 2015
    It is Firefox product version 35.0.1
    Yes I am selecting and right clicking while on the text.I am using Zotero standalone 4.0.25.2 I only have one option with selected or not selected text.
    Thanks.
    D
  • adamsmith
    oh, it's possible this isn't active when Standalone is running.
  • sakhamdi
    Oh. Okay.
    Thanks.
Sign In or Register to comment.