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Uses for the "Extra" Field
#1 · February 9, 2019, 12:14 am
Zotero had a field called "Extra" (see, for example, the Book Section Item Type) that mystified me initially. Zotero's forums say it can be used for anything you'd like it to but by default it has no special function. It is not something intended for use as a part of a citation because it is so generic.
I had a local history book that was composed of hundreds of separate entries, each called Story XXX where the XXX was a sequential number. I wanted to track the stories I'd entered so I'd know how far I'd gone in cataloging the ones important to me. The "Extra" field seemed ideal for this. I put the story number in this filed, and then displayed the field in the center column with other information. Then I was able to sort by that field by clicking on the top of the column. That showed me (in numerical order) what was, and wasn't, in Zotero. In that way I could keep a running tab on indexing done and needed to be done. The "Extra" field only serves to help keep me organized. In this way, it is fabulous.
#2 · February 9, 2019, 2:43 am
Love this idea! I can see a number of uses for this.
#3 · February 9, 2019, 4:10 am
I've been using it for a couple of things that I described in the book. When I have created the citation based on what EE suggested, I'll put EE and the page number, so I can find my way back to the EE format, if I decide to publish something with that citation in it. I also use it, when I need to expand on the basic citation information to show multiple derivative layers--something that is a copy of a copy of a copy.
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