Zutilo in Zotero 7--Which of its functions are most essential?

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  • @aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, it's script #115 (://github.com/windingwind/zotero-actions-tags/discussions/115). It's not exactly like Zutilo, because the one script handles both item links and collection links. Let us know if this script isn't giving you the expected output.
  • @DonnaCoxBaker It seems like this script is for copying item links, not item fields. So it has a totally different use. AFAIK it can't be used to copy/paste author names or other metadata. Or am i misunderstanding?
  • Apologies @aaaaaaaaaaaaaa. I misread what you were looking for. I am not familiar with the copy field Zutilo function. I never used it. Perhaps @hsiangyu_wong can respond.
  • edited February 28, 2024
    I'd be glad to have

    Copy item fields
    Paste into empty item field
    Paste non-empty item field
    Paste item type

    These would be useful because metadata often come in wrong from publishers.

    I can make a correct book, create a book section from it, then "copy item fields" and "paste into empty item field" to fill in missing fields, which keeps the imported authors but adds the editors, for example.

    If I want to replace a field, eg. if the series title got entered as the book title, I can make a dummy chapter with data only in the fields that I want to overwrite and "Paste non-empty item field", which replaces the respective fields with new data but doesn't erase any fields. This works for everything except author/editor misnomers, but that's ok to do by hand.

    Relate items

    would be really useful too.

    I tried the Actions @ Tags plugin, adding the unread tag works but the Update item metadata or Auto-tag when keyword detected in title did not so far. will play with it more.

    thanks for asking and for making Actions & Tags!
  • Hi,
    For me..:

    Copy tags
    Remove tags
    Paste tags
    Relate items
  • Actions & Tags for Zotero can do all of these:

    Copy and paste tags
    Copy and paste tags of selected item(s) #194
    This is a two-part action - in the Actions & Tags settings you need to create 2 separate actions, one for Copy and one for Paste. The scripts for both are in the same discussion post.

    Remove tags
    Remove All Tags of Selection #127

    Relate items
    Relate selected items #164

    As DonnaCoxBaker has explained, Actions & Tags for Zotero is a bit trickier to set up than Zutilo, but once you get the hang of it it's pretty slick.
  • The loss of Zutilo is a major blow and I am seriously considering reverting to Zotero 6. However, these are the functions that I consider most useful in Zutilo:
    - All tag functions
    - Relate items
    - All attachment functions, especially renaming and saving attachment as a linked file
    - All copying and pasting of metadata in fields
  • Considerable progress has apparently been made towards a v7-compatible version of Zutilo ...
    https://github.com/wshanks/Zutilo/issues/248
  • Hi all,

    Thanks for this discussion and I'll check out Actions & Tags.

    Copy Zotero URIs is very handy (I use this to send library collaborators straight to a reference so they can e.g. quickly access attached PDFs.)

    Also:
    Paste into empty item field
    Paste non-empty item field
    Paste all item fields
  • @sqrtx @ajdcampbell, thank you for the shout out to the paste metadata operations. I put those into Zutlio a few years ago - very happy to see that it's useful to others :)
  • I found that this function was not mentioned, but it is really efficient!
    Add tags in large quantities at one time!
  • Copy tags
    Remove tags
    Paste tags
    Relate items
  • Any idea when Zutilo will be available for Zotero 7?

    Need to be able to mark multiple items as Related Items at once and I don't know another way to do it but with Zutilo.
  • @mjthoraval Thank you for the suggestion. I've installed Action & Tags and add the script for the Related Items.

    But I must have done something wrong because when I select a number of items, right click, and select the Trigger Action, nothing seems to happen. It doesn't give the option to pick what I want to related the selected items to. Any ideas on what I've done wrong?
  • @museumgirlknitz The script will directly relate all the items that you have selected to each others. It does not give you the option to select another target item to relate it to:
    replace the "Relate selected items" function from Zutilo, available from a right-click on several items:
    Relate items: Set all selected items to be related to each other.
    https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-actions-tags/discussions/164

    If you want to relate a list of items to another target item, this is already possible in Zotero. But you need to do it the other way around: add the multiple related items from the item pane of the target item.
    See: https://www.zotero.org/support/related
  • @mjthoraval Thank you for explaining that. I had not thought about links from the target items pane. That will work.
  • Totally!

    Modify attachment paths

    "We need it rarely, but when we do, it's a lifeline."

    I have struggled for days and nights to fix the linking paths
  • At least @DonnaCoxBaker, @BigAnthony, and @claude70 mentioned "Copy attachment paths". I also use this very often. Complete JS ignorant here, but this seems to do it:

    https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-actions-tags/discussions/404
  • Certainly ‘Copy select item links’, essential when you need to manage your literature notes in apps like obsidian, and for now i STILL cannot find another addon with this same function in the addon market available for zotero7...
  • I import a lot of gray literature that I have to enter manually. Therefore a big timesaver was Zutilo's

    Copy item fields
    Paste into empty item field
    Paste non-empty item field
    Paste all item fields
  • Same as @eversdavid above plus Paste item type. I use those every single day and until they are available in Zoteo 7, I will stick with 6.
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