In which collection is the paper?

Is there a way of seeing where a paper is to be found on Zotero. In other words, lets say I am looking for all the papers with systematic review" in the title. I may have saved them in lots of different collections because they pertain to different topics. So, when I search for "systematic review" I get a list of papers. However, I can't see where in Zotero those papers are located (ie in which collections). Is there a way to do this?
  • thank you dstillman,

    This technique doesn't seem to work with the "duplicates" folder. So my next question is:

    I have lots of collections that i have built up over years. I am now doing a review and have a specific folder of the search results from databases (2000+ papers). I would like to remove duplicates from this folder. However, I don't want to remove the previously saved papers in other collections, some of which will undoubtedly be the same as in the review folder. I would like to keep ONE copy in the review folder and ONE copy in the relevant collection. This is important because when the review is finished i will delete the review folder but need all the other collections to still have all the papers that they started with.
    I hope this makes sense. Basically, how to i delete duplicates just from the review folder and not the rest of the collections.
  • edited June 8, 2021
    This technique doesn't seem to work with the "duplicates" folder.
    It does — you just need to select a single item, by using Cmd/Ctrl to deselect or by using the up/down arrows.

    But also understand that, when you merge duplicates, the merged item is left in all collections that any of the items are in, so there shouldn't generally be any need to check this within the duplicates view.
    This is important because when the review is finished i will delete the review folder but need all the other collections to still have all the papers that they started with.
    Make sure you understand the Zotero collections model (which is the same as most photo or music library software). If you delete a collection, items in that collection that are also in other collections are left in the other collections (assuming you don't use "Delete Collection and Items"). The point of merging duplicates is just to make sure you have only one copy of an item in your library, no matter how many collections it's in.
  • So, what does a duplicate mean if it is not the same paper in different collections?

    And, just to clarify, if I go ahead and resolve all my duplicates in my duplicates folder, single copies of the papers will remain in numerous collections.

    I'm obviously having a moment, but if numerous copies of the papers remain, I don't understand where the duplicates are actually occurring and where they are being removed from.
  • A duplicate is an item referring to the same publication that exists twice (or more times) in the Zotero library, e.g., because you have imported it from two different databases. These items are completely independent: If you change one, the other one stays the same; if you cite both in a document, both appear in the bibliography. This is typically not desirable.

    That's different from the exact same item that's been placed in multiple collections. That's literally the same item, visible in a number of different views/collections (if this helps: you also wouldn't be surprised that an item can have multiple tags; being in multiple collections is no different). And the opposite of all the things above is the case: If you change the item in one place, it changes everywhere and if you cite it multiple times in the same document, it only appears once in the bibliography.
    And, just to clarify, if I go ahead and resolve all my duplicates in my duplicates folder, single copies of the papers will remain in numerous collections.
    That's correct.
    After merging duplicates, only one version is left under My Library, so that's where it's been removed from. So if you searched for the title of the item before in "My Library" you'd get multiple results. After merging duplicates, you only get one.

    This actually works perfectly for your purposes:
    Since your merged items will be both in the review collection and in their original collection, if you just delete the review collection once you're done (making sure to just delete the collection and _not_ collection and item), you'll get exactly the desired result, i.e.
    hen the review is finished i will delete the review folder but need all the other collections to still have all the papers that they started with.
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