Search collection and subcollection simultaneously

EbRock · January 4, 2017

I am trying to do author searches (from quick search window) in a collection and was trying to search the subcollections simultaneously. Right now I have to drop into each folder individually to find if I have a paper saved. Is there a way to do this in the standalone that I am missing?

Sorry for the question but Google failed me on this one. Thanks for the help.

bwiernik · January 4, 2017

You can search sub collections simultaneously in Advanced Search. You can also enable Recursive Collection display (see https://www.zotero.org/support/preferences/hidden_preferences) which will show items in sub collections in the parent collection as well to enable this in Quick Search.

EbRock · January 4, 2017

Thanks - got it in the advanced area. Wouldn't have found this one. Big help!

ChildrenSisyphus · June 6, 2017

Hi bwiernik, I checked your method and found that the search can only be done in the library. Is that possible to search in some collection and retrieve the results from all subcollections?

I also checked the Recursive Collection display and found that once it is enabled, all the items from subcollections will appear in all higher-level collections, which is quite a mess.

Thanks for your help.

adamsmith · June 6, 2017

Advanced search can be restricted to specific collections (Collection - is ...)

ChildrenSisyphus · June 6, 2017

Thanks @adamsmith . I've found it.

However, for convenience, is it better to put it explicitly as "search subcollections" in the Advanced Search instead of inside the drop-down menu?

dstillman · February 16, 2022

Just to update this old thread for anyone coming across it, these days the "recursive collections" option mentioned above is just available as "Show Items from Subcollections" in the View menu.