Bruji

I just noticed that removing (deleting) items from the Wish List, doesn't remove the item from the library, but only from the Wish List. This causes the item to appear in the Library (as if it has been bought).

To remove an item from the Wish List (if it's included) and the library at the same time, use option-delete instead of just delete.

Updated by Conor: Nora meant included instead of excluded. This might have started the confusion, sorry.

Isn't it possible for items that appear in one or more excluded collections (e.g. Wish List) and Library to be unique copies? If so, I'm trying to understand the logic Option-Delete would figure out how to remove all instances from every collection.

If an item is an excluded collection it will only appear in that collection. In an excluded wish list any item dragged there will be removed from the library and any regular collection "blue icon". If there are unique copies (two separate additions of the same item or copy/paste) then you must delete both. Option delete is telling the program you want to delete that entry from the library and not just remove a link from a regular blue collection or in the case of the borrowed collection return the item (the borrowed collection is the only collection that would return an item to the library on delete even if excluded).

Nora wrote:To remove an item from the Wish List (if it's excluded) and the library at the same time, use Option-Delete instead of just Delete.

hmm.. I don't find that logic very intuitive from a user perspective. If I remove something from my Wish List, I do so because I no longer 'want' it. I didn't expect the item to suddenly appear in my collection.

Showing a dialogbox would make sense;
'what would you like to do?: remove from whish list and add to my collection or remove from wish list'

I recall having seen a warning message in the past, but I might be mistaken?

This only happens if your wish list is included in your library. Since the item is both in your library and wish list removing it from the wish list removes it's wish list status but does not remove it from the library. However the program ships with the wish list in excluded mode so deleting it from there removes it forever and you get a dialog saying it will be removed for ever if you haven't checked the ignore this warning box in the past.

Nora wrote:However the program ships with the wish list in excluded mode so deleting it from there removes it forever and you get a dialog saying it will be removed for ever.

I think that's the problem then as I recall having seen those dialogs in the past. Ehm... how do I set the wish list to be in 'excluded mode'? As I don't recall changing that setting

Select you wish list and under the file menu look for "Exclude Collection from Library". If you see "Include Collection in Library" then the wish list is already excluded. Even if it's excluded already toggle it included then excluded again for good measure. On other collection you can tell if they are excluded by the grey book icons instead of the blue ones.

if it's excluded already toggle it included then excluded again for good measure

That did the trick, it seems a glitch, as indeed, it already was excluded.

Works like a charm now, I get my warning-message again like I used to. Thanks for the tip!

Updated by Conor: Nora meant included instead of excluded. This might have started the confusion, sorry.

Yup, that sure confused me.

My Wish List is an excluded collection and I've never used Option-Delete to remove entries from it. I've also got a Must See included collection that's a subset of Wish List and would use Option-Delete to remove entries in it and Wish List.

Tangent …

I'm looking for an easier way to add entries to that Must See collection than this:

• Select entries in Wish List
• Run File > New Collection From Selection (Shift-Command-N)
• Drag entries from the new collection to Must See
• Delete new collection

Dragging directly from Wish List to Must See, with or without modifier keys, always has the side effect of moving entries to Library instead of keeping them in Wish List.

The reason for doing this is because I still want Library to only contain entries for movies I've seen and/or have on DVD. I'm trying to treat the excluded Wish List like a secondary library but it has limitations, e.g. not being able to reference it in Smart Collections (with the "Include library-independent entries in smart collections" preference disabled).

For my purposes Library would function better as a wish list, with the current Library entries just being in an excluded collection. Most changes I make are relative to the wish list so creating smart collections from it would be convenient.

It might be easiest to convert Wish List to an included collection, which would fold it into Library but still retain the separate collection. And maybe create a Smart Collection for entries not in Wish List that would make it look like my existing Library.

Suggestions/opinions appreciated, if anyone's following and understanding that.