Available for beta testing: Collections and searches in the trash

dstillman
In Zotero 7 beta 91, deleting collections and saved searches now sends them to the trash instead of deleting them permanently. If you delete a collection or search by mistake, you can now restore it from the trash.

Items aren't affected and retain their collection membership as long as the collection hasn't been deleted permanently.

On other platforms (web, iOS, Android), we're currently just hiding deleted collections altogether, but they'll show up in the trash in future updates.
  • mjthoraval
    Thank you for the new feature.

    It would be useful to see more information about the deleted collection in the trash, in order to identify which one to restore: Date Added, Date Modified, Date Deleted, Child Collections Parent Collection, number of items it contains, ...

    Is it planned also to add the possibility to revert the deletion of items from a collection?
  • zhikaiyici
    Something is confusing.
    1. If a collection (not with items) was deleted and moved to the trash, it cannot be permanently deleted.
    2. However, if there are any items in the 'trash', the collection can be deleted by selecting all (ctrl + a) and items used to belong to the deleted collection will be 'unfiled', which makes sense. This behavior is inconsistent with 1.

  • dstillman
    edited June 28, 2024
    If a collection (not with items) was deleted and moved to the trash, it cannot be permanently deleted.
    @zhikaiyici: Are you referring to the "Delete Permanently…" option in the context menu? That shouldn't be grayed out for collections, and we'll fix that, but you can also just press Delete on your keyboard to trigger that, or right-click on the trash and choose "Empty Trash…" empty, or wait for the collection to be auto-purged after 30 days.
  • zhikaiyici
    @dstillman: Yes, the "Delete Permanently…" option in the context menu is grayed out for collections, and no information is shown in the info panel when the collection is selected (just showing 1 collection selected). Pressing "Delete" or right-clicking on the trash and choosing "Empty Trash…" functions well.
  • dstillman
    edited July 5, 2024
    @zhikaiyici: Fixed now in beta 93
  • oldtimer
    I would like to second the comment/request by @mjthoraval (provide information in trash like Date Added, Date Modified, Date Deleted, Child Collections Parent Collection, number of items it contains, ...)
    Especially a *Date Deleted* column, for collections as well as for items, would help enormously to find out what was just deleted.

    (N.B. I am still on Zotero 6. The accidental deletion of collections by the slip of a finger has caused many hours of senseless and frustrating work over the years. A column "date deleted" would have helped a lot).

    Thank you for Zotero !
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