Show entries that are not within a group (within a separate group)

[ThiloteE]

JabRef 5.3--2021-07-02--eed637a
Windows 10 10.0 amd64
Java 16.0.1
JavaFX 16+8

The Problem:

In a large database with many entries and many groups, it is hard to find entries that are duplicates and/or not attached to a specific project and or group. I am frustrated when i have to go through all the entries by hand as this takes a long time.
This becomes increasingly important if one deletes a group (for whatever reason).

Describe the solution you'd like
Show entries that are not within a group in a separate group AND/OR add a function to "delete group with all entries that are within this group".

Additional context

Here the video why this is important. I also find that the duplicate manager is a powerful tool, but can be quite the hassle to work with.

2021-07-04.18-51-24-1.mp4

[ThiloteE]

One can see a non-group item when using the ALL ENTRIES group and checking the group colour. No colour means: The entry is not assigned to a group.

Entries that have a group entry in the bib file, but that very group has not been created in JabRef yet, will show up, as if they do not belong to a group (no colour).

Tested with:
JabRef 5.4--2021-08-15--96061b7
Windows 10 10.0 amd64
Java 16.0.2
JavaFX 16+8

[ThiloteE]

Workaround:

Use RegEx:

Explanation:

author != .+ returns entries with empty or no author field.

https://docs.jabref.org/finding-sorting-and-cleaning-entries/search#searching-for-entries-with-an-empty-or-missing-field

Also I personally liked to include readstatus, because I have some groups that do not have a group field, they get grouped by field readstatus, but I can imagine some people would not include readstatus.

Maybe the workaround can be adapted internally to create a standard group for entries that are not yet within a group.

[AEgit]

Note, that this is very similar to the problem described in #4237

[LoayGhreeb]

@ThiloteE, @koppor, could you check if the issue should be closed after we added the "invert groups" toggle (#11510, #9073)?

If you want to view all entries that don't belong to any group, set the groups view mode to "union" and select all groups (Ctrl + A) in the groups pane. Exclude the "all entries" group from the selection, then enable the invert toggle. This will show all entries that don’t belong to any group.

[ThiloteE]

I do have groups based on free search expressions that show in the groups pane, but are technically "not a group", as they do not have a groups field in biblatex source. Toggling the "invert" button while having this group selected will NOT show only entries without groups.

Example:

We have users that have thousands of groups in the groups pane. Those users will have a tough time finding and excluding those groups based on free search expression.

From a user point of view, having a separate toggle or a special group or adding an option in the "add groups" window is still a high value addition to JabRef.

[ThiloteE]

BUT, maybe the floating mode will solve this issue.