OOo citation: remove/reorder items from multiple sources

GAIL
Inserting a citation in OOo with multiple sources enabled, it would be nice to be able to remove and/or reorder items from the list. Otherwise I have to start from scratch.
  • Jon Rubin
    Second this, that would be helpful.
    Regards, Jon.
  • neurosceptic
    Also agree, this would be extremely useful!
  • tonyc2001
    I agree. Would it be possible for Zotero to order the citations in APA style in a multiple citation? e.g. alphabetically by first author, then by date for same first author, etc, see sect 3.99 of APA publication manual 5th ed.
  • bdarcus
    Zotero should already sort the citations. If it doesn't, there's a bug.
  • erazlogo
    edited April 19, 2008
    Well, actually Zotero shouldn't sort multiple references in one citation by default. In history footnotes often refer to the whole paragraph and in that case the order of references would depend on where the quote from the source appears within the paragraph. If alphabetical sorting within a citation is necessary for some styles, this should be an option in CSL, turned off by default.
  • bdarcus
    Let me clarify: sorting of citations IS defined in CSL. The APA style includes instructions for sorting them.

    So, my point stands: if someone is using the APA style, their citations should be sorted automatically. If they're not, there's a bug in Zotero.
  • jodler
    I agree that it would be excremly helpful to rearrange the order of citations when adding multiple citations. Some styles might require an alphabetical order, others however allow to sort them according to importance or whatever.

    ps: I use the Microsoft Word plugin and I am not able to reorder the items when I click on "multipe sources".
  • tonyc2001
    edited April 22, 2008
    I have investigated this problem further and Zotero DOES sort multiple citations if they are entered as a new citation.

    However, if a single citation is changed to a multiple, or more references are added to an existing multiple citation, the additions are NOT sorted.

    I am using Zotero 1.0.3, Word plugin 1.0b3 and APA style

    (out of interest, how can I tell which version of the Word plugin I am using? I just reinstalled it to make sure I had the latest, but there must be an easier way?)

    [I have reposted this comment to a new thread in Troubleshooting, (http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/2748/word-plugin-failing-to-correctly-sort-edited-multiple-citations/) as I think this is faulty behaviour rather than a feature request]
  • jodler
    I absolutely agree that the automatic sort function is important. But I also want to emphasize the significance of the ability to arrange and rearrange the order. Furthermore, at least I constantly add or delete items from citations. At the moment I have to redo the citation since I am not able to rearrange the items (the same problem occurs when I want the citation to be sorted).
  • neurosceptic
    Can't find any progress on this... would be really useful to be able to add those references automatically. I think adding/removing sources is what we realy need, sorting would follow automatically.
  • neurosceptic
    I've now found that its reasonably easy to do it by hand. I right click, toggle field codes and then type the new one in manually. Of course, it would still be nice to have this automatic. Perhaps this will be redundant in new verions of word...
  • GAIL
    When the 'keep sources sorted' field is activated sources seem to be sorted alphabetically using the Creator column.

    Could this be changed by allowing for other columns, e.g. the column that is used for sorting anyway?
  • jlharper3
    There is still no progress on being able to reorder sources in a multiple-source citation. This is rather annoying--and may prove to be a deal breaker on my using Zotero for my PhD work, since there are not a few lengthy footnotes I have to deal with. Thus far, I have to jot the names and page numbers down on paper and totally redo the citation in order to sort them at all. I would not like an automatic sorting, since my style does not require the same type of sort all the time. What I would like is a "move up/move down" command in the list. If I were a better programmer, I would tackle the problem myself, but unfortunately my abilities in dead languages far outstrip mine in computer languages.
  • amicaro
    I am currently using Org Science CSL but cannot arrange multiple sources in a chronological order. I tried to tick or untick the field "keep sources sorted" but in either way it arranges them alphabetically. Any clues how I might order them chronologically?
  • James
    @ amicaro - that's a request specific to the Org Science style, which currently has no sorting for citations. This can be changed, but whether or not it should be depends on what is prescribed by Org Science style guide. I suggest you check and then modify the style yourself or request the change in the citation style section of the forum.
  • versa
    I wish to bring this issue up again. I agree to jlharper3 - it is annoying!

    A simple up/down command in order to arrange the items selected in the list would truly be helpful. Just the way you add or remove the selected items as multiple sources. Otherwise working with larger footnotes, like needed for a phd-thesis, is impossible.
  • GAIL
    The long awaited solution is given here and here (needs a bit of fumbling though).

    G.
  • versa
    As far as I understand, the solution only solves a problem that came from an csl error when the style itself was sorting items. But the point is, to manually sort/insert citations by year, name of content. To put it more clearly: Imagine the footnote:

    See in: BookA (1990); and BookB (1992); for another opinion, see: Book C (1989); for a third, see: BookD (1996).

    Now I want to insert the BookN (2000) right in the middle between BookC and BookD.

    This just can't be done by a style, it needs to be the authors choice. And I would need this freedom if I wish to use zotero professionally.

    How can I do that?
  • Gitty K
    +1

    I also find myself often in situations where I have to redo the whole citation, which may be complex with different page numbers, prefixes, suffixes etc. Even if sorting is turned off you still can't change it anymore afterwards without re-doing it. IMHO it makes for a cumbersome user experience when you want/are required to sort your citations by importance or relevance (as some journals stipulate).
  • spaetz
    @amicaro

    >I am currently using Org Science CSL but cannot arrange multiple sources in a chronological order.

    Can you point me to the Org Science spec that describes sorting? I wish journals were better at actually spec'ing their requirements.... If you find something, I could have a go at it.
  • mark
    edited July 5, 2010
    +1 — of the biggest missing features when using Zotero seriously to cite stuff.
  • adamsmith
    Frank Bennett submitted a patch for this and Simon implemented it recently - I forgot if on the 2.1 or the 2.0 trunk, but it's forthcoming.
  • mark
    Cool! Very much looking forward to it.
  • Jose MQ
    Hey folks. I've found the way to re-order multiple source citations nicely and automatically, at least for the IEEE style, may work for others. I don't know if this is a bug or ... don't know, but here it is (Zotero 2.0.3, Mac OS X 10.6.4, Word plugin):

    1. I was getting a multiple citation like this: [2],[1],[3] and there was no way to fix it. Even inserting the references from scratch, with/without "keep sources sorted", etc.

    2. In Word I clicked the "Zotero Set Doc Prefs" button in the Zotero toolbar and selected the American Psychological Association 6th Edition style. Clicked OK to update and refresh my citations and bibliography in the document.

    3. So my citations were nicely ordered but in APA style. Then I returned to IEEE style, with "Zotero Set Doc Prefs" and I got my multiple citations the way they should be: [1-3]

    So far this is working well with this back and forth re-styling.
  • victorsong
    Jose MQ is genius! It works. the American Psychological Association 6th Edition is a miracle.
  • mrplease
    I tried Jose MQ's way but it has not worked, probably because i'm using Harvard European Archaeology (Author date, page) style.
    I don't see what could be so difficult about sorting multiple citations first by name and then by date, but then again I am not a programmer. In any case, I would have thought it was a given that the software sorts it for you. Otherwise, what's the point?!

    I am going to continue using Zotero because I've got my entire libabry synced now, and because it's free. But there's certainly room for improvement here.
  • adamsmith
    mrplease - the thread is about something different (sorting of numbers, rather than names).
    The reason Harvard European Archaeology doesn't sort citations by author and date in the citation is that it's not in the style - Zotero is very much capable of that. Since there is no official style guide I don't know if it _should_ sort.
    It's not hard to adapt the style
    just add
    <sort>
    <key macro="author-short"/>
    <key variable="year-date"/>
    </sort>
    right before the line
    <layout prefix="(" suffix=")" delimiter="; ">
    see here for instructions.
    http://www.zotero.org/support/csl_simple_edits
  • dragomani
    If you don't mind messing with some of your data, here is a crude way to manually sort your references (you will have to sacrifice the Call number data, should your items happen to contain it):
    1) Open the Info tab for the item you want to put first.
    2) Edit the Call Number, make it say 1
    3) Repeat steps 1-2 for all other items making the call number increase by 5 or 10 (to allow for later addition of other items in middle of the list or moving existing items to other positions)
    4) Make the items sortable by Call Number - by adding a column Call Number in the mid section
    5) Sort the items by Call number and export
    Hope this will help someone.
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