"Collections" Need A Ton Of Work
The ability to build and edit collections is really difficult, and it has been for years.
When adding resources to a collection, you cannot select multiple resources from your library and drag and drop them into a collection. You have to select each resource one at a time. For instance, if you want every volume in a 40-volume commentary series, you can't select all of them and drop them in. You have to select each one individually.
Beyond this taking an inordinately long time, it becomes hard to track. Visually, you don't have a clear way to tell if the resource you just dragged and dropped was added. Sometimes the drag and drop doesn't work, and you must do it again. And you can't "select" the resource in the library before dragging it. If you select it, it opens. So visually knowing where you are on the list becomes hard. Some series begin with the same name, and sometimes the name is so long that it doesn't fit in the little column. So you are dragging a sequence of titles that all look identical.
I'm very familiar with the ability to start a collection by filtering the library, but this isn't very helpful in solving the problem I just described because you can only filter for a single result. For instance, if you want to add all the volumes from the New International Commentary on the New Testament (NICNT) AND all the volumes from the Expositor's Bible Commentary (EBC), you can only filter for one or the other.
The easiest way to fix this problem is to allow multiple resources to be selected in the library and dragged into the "+ Plus These Books:" section of the collections window. Dragging and dropping multiple items that have been selected has been basic functionality in computing for 20+ years. It's mind-boggling that its not possible in software as powerful as Logos.
Comments
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Couple of thoughts on this:
Scott Ross said:For instance, if you want every volume in a 40-volume commentary series, you can't select all of them and drop them in. You have to select each one individually.
If you are starting a collection from scratch, you can select multiple volumes in the library and then create a collection from the info panel
Scott Ross said:For instance, if you want to add all the volumes from the New International Commentary on the New Testament (NICNT) AND all the volumes from the Expositor's Bible Commentary (EBC), you can only filter for one or the other.
Have you looked at using rules in Collections for this sort of thing? For example, the string NICNT OR EBC
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Scott Ross said:
I'm very familiar with the ability to start a collection by filtering the library, but this isn't very helpful in solving the problem I just described because you can only filter for a single result. For instance, if you want to add all the volumes from the New International Commentary on the New Testament (NICNT) AND all the volumes from the Expositor's Bible Commentary (EBC), you can only filter for one or the other.
The easiest way to fix this problem is to allow multiple resources to be selected in the library and dragged
Dragging is hard work. If you know about filtering Library, you can apply the same filter under "Start with books matching" e.g.
NICNT OR EBC
which will ensure that any new titles for those series will automatically be included in the collection
Because these acronyms relate to the abbreviated title of each resource, you can be more precise by using
abbrev:NICNT OR abbrev:EBC
You can also address them via their series name e.g. series:"New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament" which will involve both NICNT and NICOT volumes. And that can be shortened to series:"New International Commentary".
You can see other fields that can be used in this wiki article.
Dave
===Windows 11 & Android 13
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The collections tool is amazing. I just wish I could use it. It's not intuitive at all. This seems like an easy fix. When I open collections I should be able to name an new collection and then open my library and search from within the new collection I just created and select the books I want to add to the collection. The drag feature is frustrating. Sometimes it works but most of the time it just opens the book on top of the collection.
Please let me just search my library from inside the collection and then let me add what I want using the shift and control features in windows. I mean the things you guys do for us in Logos is amazing. I love it, but the collections thing is broken. To be fair I am new to the software, but everyone who uses it speaks windows. Just make adding books to a collection like adding files to a folder.
I know that most of my issue is probably user error on my part. I appreciate the video but it doesn't help because it's four years old. The only interface I'm familiar with is the current subscription based interface. So it's not apples to apples. Please help us publicly educated people out here :) Thanks for what you do. I know you guys are working hard.
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Sometimes it works but most of the time it just opens the book on top of the collection.
@Jacob Provence If the book is dragged into the correct location, it will add to the collection every time:
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Sometimes it works but most of the time it just opens the book on top of the collection.
Usually, if it opens the book you have tried to grab the title. To drag and drop, you want to grab the line somewhere other than the title.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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MJ: "Usually, if it opens the book you have tried to grab the title. To drag and drop, you want to grab the line somewhere other than the title."
I think that this is the very heart of the problem. Logos very antiquated and frustrating method of selecting resources by clicking on places which don't open the resources is kludgy and been a frustration to users for years and years. There should be another way way to click on a resource to open it, then clicking on the resource title should allow selecting the resource, using the info pane, etc.
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Yep. In the library, you need either a fast-grab, or grab the tag column. Elsewhere, it's always a 50-50 the cover or the title. I have to police my layout for accidentally opened books.
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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Here's 2 characters: XX
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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The above was when I quoted Jacob, and there's no quote in the text box. Can't delete. Wants 2 characters!
So, I quoted again. No quote. This app remains a trial.
But at least there's lots of white space. Thank goodness for white space. I wake up each morning dreaming of white space.
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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@Jacob Provence Please let me just search my library from inside the collection and then let me add what I want using the shift and control features in windows. I mean the things you guys do for us in Logos is amazing. I love it, but the collections thing is broken.
Not broken. Searching inside can be done using "Rules" to filter your books as you can do in the Library panel:
See this wiki or press F1 key for Help whilst inside Collections.
These rules are dynamic i.e. they ensure that the collection will be populated when new books are added to Library. They operate on external data called metadata, not the content of the book e.g. title, series, subject, language, type.
type:bible-commentary will establish that you want commentaries in the collection.Dave
===Windows 11 & Android 13
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