Upgrade StorageADD ability to Mark Multiple items as NOT DUPLICATE rather than Merge them
In a number of cases I have multiple real world copies of the same item and I would like a method to add the same item multiple times into Zotero without it treating them as Duplicates.
A simple serial number in the data record would be the best option here so I can treat activity on each copy of the Item seperately.
I don't want them to appear as Duplicate Items in the Duplicate Items search so they do not accidently get merged when I want them to remain unique for each item.
I have tried adding an extra serial digit to each ISBN but this has no effect on the Duplicate Items search. (ie they still show up there.)
I cannot see any other way I might achieve this without having a dedicated field in the data that the Duplicate Items search can recoginise and deal with appropriately. With an appropliate T/F switch in the search function one could then search for Multiple Copies of Item or Duplicate Items.
A simple serial number in the data record would be the best option here so I can treat activity on each copy of the Item seperately.
I don't want them to appear as Duplicate Items in the Duplicate Items search so they do not accidently get merged when I want them to remain unique for each item.
I have tried adding an extra serial digit to each ISBN but this has no effect on the Duplicate Items search. (ie they still show up there.)
I cannot see any other way I might achieve this without having a dedicated field in the data that the Duplicate Items search can recoginise and deal with appropriately. With an appropliate T/F switch in the search function one could then search for Multiple Copies of Item or Duplicate Items.
Thank you!
I have a collection of "The Pulpit Commentary" in my collection.
In spite of the fact that each book is labelled Volume x of nn volumes the Duplicate Items search still shows each record as a Duplicate when it clearly is not.
I have no idea how this search determines Duplicate entries but I have added sub digits to the ISBN, enumerated each volume and included sub values for each call number.
e.g. Dewey 220.7, 220.7/1, 220.7/2 etc.
I have just opened and used the latest whiz bang version of Desktop Zotero promising a better experience but to my mind the changes are merely cosmetic to the Interface.
Ver 7.0.15 (64-bit)
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u2771194/58hkk3g001y77j6tvnls.png
See the plugin recommendation above, that should work (Zotero 7 does have a massive amount of new features, even if it doesn't have the one you were looking for).
"Duplicate Items" also lists Items of Different Types e.g. Book and Audio recording with the same Title as Duplicate. How can this be?
In the meantime I am happy to try a 3rd party plugin but I doubt that plugin will remove the "Duplicate Items" system based search. Even some suggestion as to how these items may be rendered/entered as unique/different from each other in some way to prevent "Duplicate Items" from considering them the Same would be of some help. Perhaps if you were to publish the algorithm that shows what criteria are used to determine "Duplicate" might be of some assistance.
Some years ago, as can be seen from this thread, this request was reported as "in the making", but it hasn't turned up.
Thank you
I think we all agree that it could be improved and that a way to mark false positives as non-duplicates would be a great progress. It is planned, we haven't seen any outcome yet, but the developers have been busy with many other things. The transition from Zotero 6 to Zotero 7 has been a necessary and non-trivial change. Since there is working plugin, it feels to me as perhaps less urgent than other tasks.
Try the plugin. See if it works for you, and if it doesn't just remove it :-)
Quoted from https://www.zotero.org/support/duplicate_detection
The duplicate items in my Library all have different values in the ISBN field in my failed attempt to distinguish one physical item from another. Therefor ISBN/ISSN is of no value in separating Items. Admittedly the difference I used is small containing an addendum to the actual ISBN of the item number in my collection.
Simply Including the Call Number in this determination would solve the problem. i.e. if the Call Number is different then the Item is different even if all ISBNs are the same.
There does not seem to be any method of altering the DOI in the record to differentiate them either.
I have since discovered the "Book Section" item type and I am using it as a "Book Copy" item.
i.e. I put the main details for Item 0 as "Book" and each actual copy 1,2,3 etc in as "Book Section". This seems to get around the risk of "Duplicate Items" being used accidentally to Merge Items I want kept separate but is slightly inadequate as it mis-describes the article and is really of no help at all for multiple copies of a video recording, audio recording or some other type.