Is There a Quick Way to Locate Collections/Sub-Collections in Which References/Papers are Stored?

RHWoodman
I have >2100 references and papers stored on Zotero in many different collections and sub-collections. For multidisciplinary papers, I will often copy the reference into two or more relevant subcollections. *Most* of the time, I add tags and notes telling me in what collection or subcollection a paper is stored, but I'm not perfect and don't do it all the time.

I have discovered that it's difficult to determine in which collection or subcollection a paper is stored when I have omitted the reference notes that I need to find the paper. Is there a quick way to determine in which collection(s) or subcollection(s) a paper is located? If not, could you please consider adding a column or some other form of information that tells me in what folder to look when I'm trying to find the relevant collection?
  • adamsmith
    https://www.zotero.org/support/collections_and_tags#identifying_collections_an_item_is_in
  • RHWoodman
    Adam,

    Thank you for the link. I don't see how it helps me with my specific question. I have some papers in collections or subcollections that have no tags and no notes telling me where I put them. I have about 50 collections, with 1 - 5 subcollections under each collection. I need a way to quickly find those papers, navigate to the collection or subcollection, and then tag or annotate the reference so that I can find them again in the future. Is there a way to do that quickly?
  • adamsmith
    I'm confused. You ask how you can tell quickly in which collection an item is and I link you to information about how to quickly identify the collection(s) an item is in. If that doesn't answer your question, you'd have to say why not.
  • RHWoodman
    Hi, Adam,

    My bad. I misread that section the first time and used the Linux key instead of the Windows key. When it didn't work (duh!), I thought it was the wrong information. I tried it again, and it worked.

    Thanks for your help! It is much appreciated, even by this old doofus. :-)

    Robert
  • lschernikau
    neither control, no option, nor command key work on my mac (big sur) to identify which collection my items are in. kindly let me know if there is another way
  • dstillman
    @lschernikau: You have to hold down Option. It definitely works.
  • lschernikau
    can you please check if and how I can see the collection on windows when using parallels on Mac? it indeed works with the Option key under Mac, but can't figure it out on my windows virtual machine using parallels. thanks, Lars
  • adamsmith
    It should be the ctrl key on any Windows machine, parallels shouldn't change that
  • prakhars962
    It doesn't work. I pressed the left ctrl, the right ctrl. Left ctrl with item clicked, right ctrl with item clicked, both ctrl, both ctrl with item clicked. I waited for almost 30 seconds in each case.
  • dstillman
    @prakhars962: It absolutely works. If you're not seeing it, disable any third-party plugins you're running.
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