Does Zotero do anything with Related Items?

Joe_PA
The documentation describes how to DEFINE related items, but I have not found any description of what Zotero can DO with related items, such as
display a list of all related pairs in a collection. Is there any way to perform a search based on the "related" property?

Please point me to any such description. (Searching on the word "related" is fairly useless)
Thanks
  • dstillman
    You can't really do anything beyond set and view them currently, but richer relations are planned, which will open the door to more sophisticated visualizations, etc.
  • Joe_PA
    Dan, thanks for clarifying.

    When new capability is added, a more unique name than "Related" or "Relation" would make searching for documentation and discussion about it much easier. For example, "Item-Relation" is more unique, (which just lead me to your 2007 wiki page on the subject). If used consistently in the documentation, that would carry over into forums.
  • Gracile
    @Joe: see also this (very old) thread: http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/391/hierarchical-item-relationships/ (not exactly the same question though).
  • dstillman
    More relevant (though also old) thread is here:

    http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/1317/
  • Joe_PA
    After reading through the two above threads, I understand the barriers to implementing relational functions, even simple ones. To help other newcomers to Zotero, the following paragraph could be added to the "Related" documentation.

    "Zotero Reports show the “Related” field (+ all non-blank Fields, Tags, Notes, & Attachment list). Hence, to find all items with "Related" set, generate a Report and search it for “Related”. The only other way to see Related Items is the same way they are defined: set the right panel to “Related”, then step through each item to see if it has a Related Item defined."

    While not providing true relational function, the following GUI changes would provide a significant boost for using the existing (flat-file) implementation of "Related-Item" :

    1) Add to Advanced Search Field: “Related Item” with operators: “Exists”, ”Does not exist”, "Contains", "Does not Contain"
    2) Add to Action menu: “Show Related Items” (within current Collection or Whole Library)
    3) Add to Center Section 4 optional narrow columns with icons (like paperclip) to indicate the item has 1 or more Tags, Notes, Relations, or Attachments. Alternative is to display in the narrow columns the number of Tags, Notes, Relations or Attachments as others have suggested.)

    The order of items displayed would still be controlled by sorting on the column heading. Hence related items would not be contiguous, but at least the user could *see* the items.
  • Gracile
    edited February 14, 2013
    Feel free to edit the documentation: it's a wiki (you need to create a specific account).

    On 3) another solution has been discussed and might (?) be added in the future: https://github.com/zotero/zotero/pull/175 . But this does not seem to me incompatible with your suggestion (which gives a general view of items which have one or more relation).

    (+ Zutilo has useful functions regarding related items)
  • airquality
    It would be handy if a "Related" column was available for display in the Zotero window - displaying the number of related items registered for each item. This would be the same as the "Notes" column (which shows the number of note items attached to an item.
  • kithairon
    Was going to suggest adding a column to the middle pane for making the existence of related items visually recognisable and adding "Related item" to Advanced search. I see that Joe_PA has done exactly that (and more) two years ago. Would like to support his request on all three counts: (1) Advanced Search - Related items with his suggested operators; (2) Action Menu – add Show Related items; (3) Middle Pane – Add an optional column for a symbol making the existence of a related item visible.
  • kristofkessler
    If I define a related item in Zotero on my computer then this does not have any effect on my library on zotero.org, correct? In Zotero on my computer the titles "Test Book" and "Test Book Chapter" are set to be related, but I cannot find any indication of this in my online library: https://www.zotero.org/kristofkessler/items/
    (I synchronized multiple times, but no changes.)
  • bwiernik
    Yes, the related items feature is not currently accessible on zotero.org, but relations will sync to other computers using the Zotero desktop app.
  • floriand
    Two little thoughts after reading this tread, if this feature would become more 'sophisticated':

    1. Maybe it would be nice to be able to drag and drop relationships (instead of typing them in the search box), for example related recently added documents

    2. Create an optional column to display availability of related items, in order not to forget previously tagged 'important related items'
  • bwiernik
    @floriand The Zutilo plug-in add the ability to relate all selected items together in the right click menu.
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