Duplicated Collections Question

[sitenoise]

Is there a way to "break" the connection to a duplicated Collection, so that edits to a title in the Original don't travel to the Dupe?

Traveling edits, I assume, is the desired and expected behavior, so why would I want to break it? Don't ask, lol.

Okay, so you ask ... Let's pretend that there is a TV series that I add reviews/comments for each episode (within one Title) as it airs. I want to dupe that Title to a "2019 Folder" that keeps all those reviews intact, then I want to delete them from the original version so I can start adding 2020 reviews

I notice that if I add a new title to an original collection it is NOT added to the dupe. That's cool. I'm afraid to delete one to see if it deletes from the dupe. Anybody know the answer to that?

[sitenoise]

I think I see a way around this. Instead of duplicating the Collection, I export it and then import it. Preliminary testing looks good

[FineWine]

Yes there is a way to do this.

1 - In the Library or Collection, highlight all those existing movies you wish to Duplicate

2 -File > New Collection from Selection [give this collection a name in the Side Bar- eg. 2020 Reviews]

3 - Double check that it is NOT included in the Main Library - File > Exclude Collection from Library

4 - Now carry out your reviews/comments in this new 2020 Reviews Collection

5 - When you add a new Title to the Library just click on the entry and drag & drop into the 2020 Reviews Collection and carry out your reviews/comments

6 - When 2021 comes around; highlight all Titles in the 2020 Reviews Collection; click the Edit button in the Toolbar, find and highlight the Reviews/Comments field and Delete.

7 - Now double click on the Collection name 2020 Reviews in the Side Bar and rename it 2021 Reviews

Remember you also have all those Custom Fields which you can name in DVDpedia > Preferences > Fields

Hope this helps

[sitenoise]

Hmm ... maybe I'm not following this correctly.

I highlight all 20 Titles in Collection A
New Collection from selection
Exclude this new Collection from Library
Rename it Collection B

When I edit a Title in either of the Collections the edit travels to the corresponding Title in the other Collection.

I'm not sure if my exporting and then importing a collection is going to work, but I did just drag each title from a Collection I want to Duplicate to my desktop to create a .dcard file for each Title and then dragged each of them back into a new collection, and so far it seems that editing does not travel between corresponding Titles. This is quite a bit more work than exporting/importing a Collection so I may test that a little more

[FineWine]

Oop's I apologise I did not realise that editing Collection B would flow through to Collection A when using New Collection from Selection when it has been Excluded from Library.

SO we try again

1 - File > New Collection and name it Collection B
2 - File > Exclude this new Collection from Library
3 - Highlight all 20 Titles in Collection A
4 - Edit > Copy
5 - Click within the List view window of Collection B
6 - Edit > Paste

NOTE: these entries in Collection B will have (Copy) appended to the Title.
Any edits should not be carried through to Collection A from Collection B or vice versa.

I tend to used 'Smart Collections' but you can not 'Exclude from Library' 'Smart Collections'. Maybe this could be a Future Request where there is a Tick box within the the 'Edit Smart Collection' criteria panel. That way the criteria is still meet within the 'Smart Collection' from the main Library BUT any Edits done within the 'Smart Collection' is not passed through to the Library.

[sitenoise]

My Collection export/import Theory, and the Copy/Paste into a new collection both work, but since they involve new collections I lose the column view arrangements. Sensible, but unfortunate for me.

This is what works:

Collection A - create .dcard files of all Titles
Collection A - Duplicate it
Rename the Dupe "Collection B" and Exclude it
Collection B - Delete all the Titles
Drag all the .dcard files, one at a time, into Collection B and affirm each one to be added even though one already exists.

Looks like I've come full circle in search of Column Salvation

[Conor]

The duplicate command applies to that which is being duplicated.

In the case of duplicate collection it brings the columns/preferences and the references to the items inside. The items inside are the same and will update the original.

Duplicate movie/item will create a new copy of the items that you can then change without affecting the original.

You arrived at the right solution, of duplicating the collection and then removing the items to add those imported. Only change I would make would be to export .dvdpedia on the export panel of the original collection then double click to import, select all, drag over to your duplicated (but now empty) collection. This avoids the hassle of having to hit add on each .dcard.

But since you want to make updates on each entry, the .dcard aproach might work better as it lets you import one item at a time, change it and keep track of what needs doing by deleting .dcards as you go.

[sitenoise]

Exporting a .dvdpedia and then importing to an emptied duplicate is a quicker way than the .dcard option. Thanks, I didn't think of that.

I'm curious why option-dragging a Title to another Collection doesn't duplicate it. It just moves it. Am I missing something there?