Logos 3 Resources and Collections in Logos 5

Logos 3 had a helpful report under Tools -> Library Management -> "Resources and Collections" that doesn't seem to exist in Logos 5. Now Logos 5 is far more sophisticated in how you can find/organize resources through collections, type, tags, prioritize, favorites, and rating. However, I really liked the Logos 3 report because it was very easy to scan the report and find resources I have not put into one of my own collections.

I have about 55 collections in which I group all my books. The reason being is because I have over 1600 resources, and it is very difficult to grasp or remember them all. What I found, is that after a while I was only really using about 100 resources, and overlooking many excellent resources I didn't realize (or forgotten) that I had. So, I decided to split all my resources into the different collections, which really familiarized myself with my resources, and when I am studying lets say something in theology, I can easily peruse all the titles in my theology collection.

The only way I can see what books are not in a collection in Logos 5, is to open up the library tab, click on the Resource Information button, and view the "Collections" section. I can only do this one book at a time. Is there a better way in Logos 5 to generate a report that will show all resources and what collections they belong to, like in Logos 3?

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Matt Hamrick

Welcome to the forums Ron.

Go to Tools and then click Collections, Click the Open on the resource panel, find your collection, click it and it will generate a list of what is in the collection. You can even make a bibliography of your collection and what is in it.

Matt Hamrick

You sound like you need some training on Logos 5. I recommend John at LearnLogos.

NB.Mick

The only way I can see what books are not in a collection in Logos 5, is to open up the library tab, click on the Resource Information button, and view the "Collections" section. I can only do this one book at a time. Is there a better way in Logos 5 to generate a report that will show all resources and what collections they belong to, like in Logos 3?

You can create a collection of all books not in a collection by using a rule that includes all of the library (e.g. rating:<6 ) or all of the relevant library you want to put into collections (e.g. * -Perseus ) and excluding all your collections by dragging them into the "Minus these resources" area.

abondservant

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/625115#Comment_625115

I have i think 6000 resources without Perseus (and compared to many around here thats small).

I just flat out can't remember them all. But through prioritization, and careful organization when I datamine Logos, I like to think the most relevant things on a given subject float to the surface.

You may want to track down the "theology/denomination tags" thread. Which has little to do with tagging, but does have a link to a faithlife group that has a set of collections (documents in the vernacular of faithlife) that when clicked automatically appear in Logos. The collections as you might have guessed help sort through titles by denomination and theological persuasion. This is useful because I learn as much or sometimes more from the questions of people I disagree with. As a reformed baptist. There are more that I disagree with on some point, than with whom I agree on everything.

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/625136#Comment_625136

I'm a little surprised about the answers to this thread. First, I'm a tag-fangirl. I've little patience for collections, since as Ron mentions, they're badly supported. But let's go over the sequence:

1. A new forum inquirer, likely experienced in both Libronix and Logos. Has quite a number of collections. Knows the rules of the road.

2. First answer completely ignores the problem and suggests exactly what the inquirer is exhausted doing.

3. Next answer was quite offensive, implying the inquirer was missing a screw and needed training.

4. Next answer spoke to an illustrative issue, but not the inquirer's question. And TJ promised 'star' people gave precisely developed advice.

5. And the final answer basically agreed the inquirer had a definite problem.

Now, the issue Ron is speaking to, has been around since 2009 and queried about once a year. And that is in Logos, you can't do with collections, what you can easily do with tags. You can't see a list of your books (all) and which collections they're assigned to. Pretty simple problem.

I'm guessing either Logos doesn't use Logos (they say on the contrary that they DO use it). Or it's not a simple solution. If it's the latter, then my guess is that collections are not 'parked' per book but are dynamically re-created when needed.

Now, Libronix is probably just the same. That is why the report can take a bit of time and it's also why it's so valuable. Myself, I classify books for a whole host of reasons, a book having many assignments. So far so good. The problem is especially acute, when you have a group of books with books inside books. Logos would indeed benefit from some of the functions Libronix provided.

Here's a copy. I've few collections but if I did, I could quickly (in this case) scan my Qumran Biblical for any missed assignments.

And to illustrate how a FEW of the Libronix tools never made it to Logos, here's the tool for managing linkage assignments more tightly:

Mark Barnes

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/625175#Comment_625175

2. First answer completely ignores the problem and suggests exactly what the inquirer is exhausted doing.

People make mistakes, and misread or understand the question. It happens. There's no need to call it out.

Next answer was quite offensive, implying the inquirer was missing a screw and needed training.

It's only offensive if you choose to take offense. I agree it's not a helpful answer (presumably because of the misunderstanding), but it certainly doesn't suggest missing a screw. I hope you're not suggesting that training is only necessary if you're missing a screw, because if you are you're suggesting that a decent number of your fellow forumites are missing screws. Not good.

4. Next answer spoke to an illustrative issue, but not the inquirer's question. And TJ promised 'star' people gave precisely developed advice.

Wrong. That answer speaks directly to the original question and explains how to achieve exactly what is wanted (even if a little more detail might have been helpful). Perhaps you didn't understand the answer because you don't use collections. Or perhaps you just wanted to take the opportunity to bash L4/5 at the expense of Libronix again, and didn't bother to try and listen to what other people were saying. Or perhaps, like the first poster, you just made a mistake.

Mark Barnes

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/625115#Comment_625115

You can create a collection of all books not in a collection by using a rule that includes all of the library (e.g. rating:<6 ) or all of the relevant library you want to put into collections (e.g. * -Perseus ) and excluding all your collections by dragging them into the "Minus these resources" area.

To give a concrete example of Mick's suggestion, here's a screenshot from my PC that helps me identify which resources are not in one of my 'commentary' collections:

To do this for your whole library (and not just collections), Mick is suggesting you use the rule rating:<6 in place of my type:bible-commentary. It's a little tedious dragging each of your collections into the "Minus these resources" section, but it only takes a few seconds for each collection, so you'll have the whole lot done in a couple of minutes.

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/625202#Comment_625202

Oh, throw me a bone. Woof, woof.

I wrote my answer because Logosians are so adept at negative answers (like mine and yours) that don't answer the issue. And a complicated workaround is even worse.

The correct answer is 'No, Logos hasn't yet provided such a report. Yes, it's a good idea. And in the meantime, here's a really complicated workaround that you'll need to write down to remember.'

Come on, Mark. You got baited.

Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :)

The only way I can see what books are not in a collection in Logos 5, is to open up the library tab, click on the Resource Information button, and view the "Collections" section. I can only do this one book at a time. Is there a better way in Logos 5 to generate a report that will show all resources and what collections they belong to, like in Logos 3?

Welcome [:D]

Personally use a mixture of library tagging and dynamic rules for collections. New library resources have myrating of 0 (while community rating can be different) so can filter library for new Logos resources whose collection(s) have not been checked:

edition:l myrating:0

When have verified a resource is in desired collection(s), then change rating to 2 stars. Personally like English resources to be in 5 or more collections since have 4 largish collections:

English Library without Bibles
English Library without Commentary
English Library without Perseus
Language:English

If a resource is not in desired collection(s), then have two options: modify collection(s) to include resource or add tag(s).

Thankful for Rosie's ratings => http://community.logos.com/forums/p/4363/157779.aspx#157779

0 stars - just purchased, haven't had time to do anything with it yet (though I usually do them right away so they don't stay in this state for very long)
1 star - I really don't think this resource is very valuable and would usually chose to ignore it, but I don't dislike it enough to hide it
2 stars - the rating I assign to everything as soon as I buy it, which means basically "I don't know yet what I think of this"
3 stars - good
4 stars - very good
5 stars - outstanding, one of my favorite resources

When have an opinion about a resource, then change rating appropriately.

Note: If join Faithlife group Logos Collections, can freely copy Collections by clicking Get Copy to the right of the desired document name followed by synchronizing Logos. Alternative is Select All then Action => Get Copies. Currently Collections has 316 shared documents: primarily dynamic rules using metadata plus some manual additions.

Keep Smiling Smile

John Hapgood

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/625210#Comment_625210

The correct answer is 'No, Logos hasn't yet provided such a report. Yes, it's a good idea. And in the meantime, here's a really complicated workaround that you'll need to write down to remember.'

Bummer because that's exactly what I came here looking for as well.

Is the a video on making collections because it looks harder than I think it should be so I want to make sure I'm not missing something. Do we have to add them one at a time? I tried selecting them in blocks but I could not do it.

SineNomine

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/679073#Comment_679073

Is there a UserVoice request for such reports hidden somewhere in its depths?

Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/679073#Comment_679073

Is the a video on making collections because it looks harder than I think it should be so I want to make sure I'm not missing something. Do we have to add them one at a time? I tried selecting them in blocks but I could not do it.

Logos Desktop Training => https://www.logos.com/training/desktop includes => https://www.logos.com/training/logos5/collections

Wiki has => https://wiki.logos.com/Collections

A collection is created one at a time. Dynamic rule can quickly add many resources to a collection.

Copying collection rule from Faithlife group Logos Collections is also done one at a time.

Logos 6 library export includes tags for resources, but lacks dynamic rule collections.

Keep Smiling [:)]

Simon’s Brother

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/625210#Comment_625210

The correct answer is 'No, Logos hasn't yet provided such a report. Yes, it's a good idea. And in the meantime, here's a really complicated workaround that you'll need to write down to remember.'

[Y] Spot on Denise. And what needs to be pointed out about this complicated workaround is that every time you create a new collection, you need to add that new collection to the collection that is designed to show you resources not in a collection if it is still to be of any value as pointed out by Rosie here (https://community.logos.com/forums/p/98313/679095.aspx#679095).

It would make a lot more sense for Logos to bring back the report we had in Libronix. But that would mean someone at Logos admitting they got it wrong in removing the report - and I can hear that old chestnut being brought out of the drawer now by Bob - but usage statistics of the report showed nobody was using it - of course it could also be the case that for the customers who used this report were also the same customers who choose not to share their usage statistics with Logos.

If Logos is serious about providing users with true library management tools then this report in some form needs to be brought back to the fold.

John Hapgood

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/679106#Comment_679106

Thanks KS4J, It's actually easier than I thought. I thought I had to drag them all up to the include section but once you filter in what you want you have it so dont need that report because I know that all my Bible Commentaries are in that collection plus a few that are not Bible Commentaries. I have so many resources that I would never put in a collection that I dont need to know it since I know I'm not missing any that I do want in this collection.

I'm learning fast . . . . )

Rosie Perera

There have been a variety of helpful and not-so-helpful answers so far, and the understanding (with you) that Logos doesn't quite do what you want it to do -- make it EASY to see what books of yours aren't in any collections yet, which Libronix could do.

One thing nobody has mentioned yet is that as of Logos 5, you can now at least see what collections any given resource is part of, over in the info panel:

But it's still a pain to go through your entire library selecting each resource one by one, and waiting for that collections section to populate, to find books that aren't in any collection yet.

Mark did give a partial solution. However the only way to find out using his method what books aren't in ANY of your collections (presumably you have many of them) is to make a collection which starts with your entire library (rule is simply the wildcard character, *) and then you drag ALL of your collections into the "Minus these resources" section (as Mark illustrated). But that won't be fully dynamic because it won't update automatically if you create new collections.

So bottom line is there's still nothing as good as that report that Libronix had for finding what books you haven't that aren't in any collection yet.

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/679115#Comment_679115

Disciple of Christ, actually I'm not really sure Logos6 needs that Libronix report (though it is good). And here, I'm not sure, since I avoid collections, since they screw up the CitedBy tool. That'd be a good sentence to diagram.

But I think all that's needed is a MyCollections column in the library, similar to the MyTags column. Then you just tap the heading, and it lists all the resources unassigned to collections. Plus you can quickly scan the groups, etc. Or I'm wrong which is pretty often.

Given MyCollections absence, I'd assume there must be a reason why the library doesn't do this. If I were a coder, it be that they don't populate the resource item list with the collections assigned. That'd be hard to believe.

Dave Hooton

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/679245#Comment_679245

But I think all that's needed is a MyCollections column in the library, similar to the MyTags column. Then you just tap the heading, and it lists all the resources unassigned to collections. Plus you can quickly scan the groups, etc.

I think this is the best suggestion for the Logos interface. I remember the good ol' Libronix Collections Report as one hastily thrown together as it wasn't a good design.