Upgrade StorageBest way to have different notes for the same document in different collections?
Here is the scenario to which my question relates. I am doing some legal study on certain causes of action (e.g., fraud, breach of implied warranty, and promissory estoppel) using Zotero stand-alone. For each cause of action I have created a corresponding collection (e.g., a "Fraud" collection, a "Breach of Implied Warranty" collection, and so on). In each collection I have multiple related documents, court cases and etc., most of which are in PDF format. I have a PDF document that covers multiple subjects (e.g., it contains a chapter on "fraud" and a chapter on "promissory estoppel") and thus the document is relevant in multiple collections. When I include the document in multiple categories, all of my notes on the document regarding each subject show up across all collections (and the reports generated for each collection).
Is it possible to add notes to the PDF document in, say, the "fraud" collection that pertain only to fraud, and notes to the same document in, say, the "promissory estoppel" collection that pertain only to promissory estoppel? Ultimately, what I'm trying to do is this:
1) add the PDF document (which covers multiple subjects) to collections A and B;
2) go to collection A and add notes to the PDF document related to subject A (without seeing the notes related to collection/subject B);
3) go to collection B and add notes to the PDF document related to subject B (without seeing the notes related to collection/subject A);
4) generate a report for collection A that shows the notes for subject A, but not subject B; and
5) generate a report for collection B that shows the notes for subject B, but not subject A.
What is the best way to accomplish this?
Is it possible to add notes to the PDF document in, say, the "fraud" collection that pertain only to fraud, and notes to the same document in, say, the "promissory estoppel" collection that pertain only to promissory estoppel? Ultimately, what I'm trying to do is this:
1) add the PDF document (which covers multiple subjects) to collections A and B;
2) go to collection A and add notes to the PDF document related to subject A (without seeing the notes related to collection/subject B);
3) go to collection B and add notes to the PDF document related to subject B (without seeing the notes related to collection/subject A);
4) generate a report for collection A that shows the notes for subject A, but not subject B; and
5) generate a report for collection B that shows the notes for subject B, but not subject A.
What is the best way to accomplish this?
You could think about tagging notes, though, in which case you could toggle the respective tag filter (in the tag selector on the left)--you'd still see the other notes, but they'd be greyed out.
@adamsmith: I don't mind creating duplicate items. In fact, that is what I had been doing (via right-click, "Duplicate Item"), but it's cumbersome because only parent items are duplicated -- nothing attached to/associated with a parent items (documents, notes, attachments, etc) gets duplicated. The duplicate is essentially an empty parent item, so I have to rummage around and reattach all the sub-items I want to keep with the duplicated parent item. What I'd really like to do is duplicate a parent item with all of its sub-items (documents, notes, attachments, etc.) in tact in the duplicate, then remove from the duplicate the things I don't want present in the duplicate. I just haven't yet figured out how to do that (any enlightenment you could give would be highly appreciated).
@bwiernik: I delved into that last night, but, because of the large number of notes I'll have, managing them and their relations quickly became a bit of a nightmare.
Note that some more work is required .. in particular hiding certain categories of FloatNotes rather than the current default "Hide notes .." which hides all Notes.
Edited to explain limitations of FloatNotes (see further below): FloatNotes can only be overlaid on web pages and do not work with PDF documents.
First install FloatNotes add-on.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/floatnotes/?src=userprofile
Read the documentation and in particular Markdown syntax of FloatNotes.
http://www.floatnotes.org/documentation/
Now follow some protocol such as adding a tag to the top of each inserted FloatNote
# fraud #
# promissory estoppel #
Select an item (webpage) to add one or more FloatNotes.
Move cursor to each x.y position in document where you would like to place a FloatNote.
Right click > Create Note ...
Type in markdown text into FloatNote using some coding protocol
e.g. one note might have header # fraud #
Another FloatNote on same document at a different location might have a different tag e.g. # breach of implied warranty #
Save the document.
Now go to Notes menu in Firefox toolbar (located between the URL field and search field).
Launch Notes Manager from drop down menu.
Search for required FloatNote tags .. e.g. # fraud #
Now on clicking the FloatNote # fraud # you will be taken to the x,y location of that note in the document. But if you scroll the document you will still see other FloatNotes.
I have not found this x,y targetting in Zotero notes but I might be wrong.
...
This begs the question .. can FloatNotes now be extended to make only certain FloatNote categories visible, hiding the other unselected notes?
Since the FloatNotes are in iframe containers which overlay the main document I would guess that certain notes might be made invisible by attribute manipulation.
FloatNotes are stored in floatnotes.sqlite in Firefox profile folder.
Now if you have SQLiteman installed (I have SQLiteman in Ubuntu 14.04) it is easy to just click on floatnotes.sqlite and inspect table:-
main > Table (1) > floatnotes > Columns (13)
id
url
protocol
content
x
y
w
h
color
status
guid
creation_date
modification_date
Feasibly, a Python script could access floatnotes.sqlite to display selected FloatNotes containing certain tags and temporarily set x,y values of other notes to be off screen (i.e. invisible). The default values would need to be saved and restored. I need to test this theory.
The FloatNotes method "Reload notes" in menu in top toolbar would need to be invoked to reload floatnotes.sqlite to move unwanted FloatNotes off the browser canvas.
To assist in creating Custom Scripts I installed CustomButtons add-on
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/custom-buttons/
This can add a Custom Button which calls a Python script to analyse FloatNotes.
The above experiment might be overkill for your needs. It offers FloatNotes which can be used in addition to Zotero meta-notes.